Rain, rain, go away: We had some showers yesterday, but today you probably won’t need to strategically walk under every available awning—at least not for most of the day. The morning will start off mostly cloudy with temperatures in the high 50s. Then in the afternoon, the sun will poke out more and eventually temperatures will reach the high 60s. We may see some rain after the sun sets, so enjoy a lil extra white noise for sleeping, I suppose.
Speaking of weather: Conditions aren’t so nice in Florida right now! In fact, they are bad! And dangerous!! Hurricane Helene, expected to be one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the US this year at a Category 4, continues barreling toward Florida’s Gulf Coast. Helene should crash into Florida later this evening. Officials have issued storm warnings to at least 50 million people.
Shutdown averted: After some drama, Congress approved a bipartisan spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. The stop-gap measure funds government programs, otherwise set to shutter later this month, until December 20. See ya then!
Executive order: President Joe Biden will sign an executive order today related to gun violence. Unless I’m missing something, it doesn’t really sound that impressive? The order directs his administration to research traumatic effects of active shooter drills for students and teachers to help schools create drills that “maximize their effectiveness and limit any collateral harms they might cause.” How about you make it less necessary to have these drills in the first place? Just a thought. The order would also create a task force to investigate the uptick in 3-D printed guns and technology that can turn semi-automatic guns into more dangerous, automatic weapons. Seems worth looking into, but they won’t report back until the very last days of Biden’s term. And there’s no guarantee any of this will result in new policy.
I am just as much a lawyer as Rudy Giuliani in DC: A three-judge panel ruled to disbar former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the in the District of Columbia over the baseless claims of election fraud he made in 2020 while serving as former President Donald Trump’s lawyer. This comes after his disbarment in New York. Now he can’t practice law in either jurisdiction.
About that: In an Instagram post yesterday, Seattle rapper Macklemore addressed controversy sparked by him saying “Fuck America” at the Palestine Will Live Forever benefit concert Saturday. He wrote, “My thoughts and feelings are not always expressed perfectly or politely. Sometimes I slip up and get caught in the moment. Saturday night was one of those times.” Mack, we love ya. I know you got booted from a Vegas show over this, but real ones know what you mean and agree. You can read his statement in full here:
Ceasefire now: Allies to Lebanon, including the US, called for a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah to allow for negotiations after Israel killed more than 600 people in its assault on Lebanon. If the global powers can’t cool down the temperature soon, many fear for broader war in the Middle East. Maybe y’all should have tried to take down tensions months ago as Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians became clear. Could have saved a lot of lives and avoided a lot of pain in the region.
But wait, there’s more: Israel may soon launch a ground invasion in Lebanon, or, as Israel’s military chief told soldiers, “enter enemy territory.” Still, the US Pentagon told the BBC yesterday that a ground invasion did not appear “imminent”.
Oh, Eric: New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted yesterday on “five federal charges of bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations,” the New York Times reports. Adams was under federal investigation for a possible conspiracy between his 2021 mayoral campaign team and the government of Turkey to funnel in illegal donations. Prosecutors also subpoenaed the campaign and the mayor’s office for information related to Israel, China, Qatar, South Korea and Uzbekistan. Adams claims he’s innocent and asks New Yorkers to “wait to hear our defense.” More to come later. For now, enjoy the memes.
— J’na Jefferson (@jnajefferson) September 26, 2024
In Trump news: Today, a New York court of appeals will hear arguments in former President Donald Trump’s bid to dismiss the $454 million civil fraud judgment in which state Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and his business liable for fraud, issuing false financial statements, and issuing false business records. The judge ruled Trump inflated the value of his assets to obtain a better loan and insurance rates.
Abolish the death penalty: Alabama is set to carry out the nation’s second-ever execution by nitrogen gas on 59-year-old Alan Eugene Miller. Alabama conducted the first of this kind of execution in January when it executed Kenneth Smith by strapping a respirator gas mask over his face that pumped out pure nitrogen gas and killed him through lack of oxygen. As the AP writes, Smith “shook in seizure-like spasms” for more than two minutes and then gasped for breath for several more. If that sounds horrible and cruel to you, then you’re not alone. Death penalty opponents sent Gov. Kay Ivey petitions demanding she stop the execution to investigate the method.
Taxation is not a blessing: It’s a choice. The Mayor of Seattle unveiled his 2025-26 budget proposal earlier this week. He’s patting himself on the back for balancing a $250 million shortfall without raising taxes, but he did so by raiding the City’s pot of progressive revenue specifically earmarked for affordable housing. In essence, he sacrificed more than $200 million for housing to avoid taxing his rich donors. The city council has the power to correct this error, but I’m not feeling very hopeful. In a meeting yesterday, Council Members Cathy Moore and Rob Saka seemed interested in clawing back some of the funds for affordable housing, but the head of central staff met that interest with some bad framing. I live-tweeted about it here:
Ben Noble says if the council wants to return JumpStart funds to affordable housing, they will either have to be “blessed” with more revenue or make cuts. IT IS NOT A “BLESSING” THAT COMES OUT OF NOWHERE. TAXING THE RICH IS A CHOICE THAT THEY CAN MAKE AT ANYTIME
— Hannah Krieg (@hannahkrieg) September 25, 2024
BREAKING: New orca clip just dropped.
Noisy Union has an announcement later this morning: Check out our Twitter! For now, an anthem.
@48: “Keep talking smack about UN institutions; it just shows what an extremist you are”
lol, there’s nothing extreme about casting doubt on “UN institutions.” Israel gets outvoted in the UN, nothing more.
Take a look at the recorded vote on A/HRC/RES/S-30/1, the vote establishing the commission of inquiry that has so captured your imagination. 24 votes in favor, 9 against, and 14 abstentions. On a 47-member Council, it takes 24 votes to guarantee you will get your way. The anti-Israel crowd had enough votes by one to ram this through, and that’s the only reason it exists.
Countries opposing or abstaining include plenty of mainstream, normie countries, including Austria, Germany, the UK, France, Japan, India, Netherlands, South Korea, etc. These countries aren’t extremists. They knew an anti-Israel commission of inquiry would be a joke, and they didn’t want their names attached.
The commission of inquiry, the UN human rights experts, and all the other “UN institutions” that you think carry so much are nothing more than political appointees. They deliver the results their appointing body expects. The anti-Israel crowd has the votes to appoint anti-Israel panelists, who then deliver anti-Israel results.
@50 You can plug your ears like the child you are and pretend you don’t understand all you want. I am obviously not trying to convince YOU of anything.
@51 This vote was about the terms for establishing the commission of inquiry, not its composition, so there is little way to know what some of them objected to despite your pretending you do.
“casting doubt”
Calling well recognized independent experts, politically partisan appointees, in order to de-credibilize their findings is not “casting doubt”. It is saying “there is no merit to their findings because they are partisan liars.” Quit pretending to be even handed about this.
“Countries opposing or abstaining”
That’s hardly the same thing. To abstain is also to not object. The relevant vote is 24-9 and several on the no side would probably vote differently today like Ireland.
https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/g21/114/96/pdf/g2111496.pdf
Most countries often vote against Israel at the UN simply because it is a rogue state in constant violation of international law. It has nothing to do with being anti-Israel.
UN General Assembly demands Israel end ‘unlawful presence’ in Occupied Palestinian Territory
With a recorded vote of 124 nations in favour, 14 against, and 43 abstentions, the resolution calls for Israel to comply with international law and withdraw its military forces, immediately cease all new settlement activity, evacuate all settlers from occupied land, and dismantle parts of the separation wall it constructed inside the occupied West Bank.
The General Assembly further demanded that Israel return land and other “immovable property”, as well as all assets seized since the occupation began in 1967, and all cultural property and assets taken from Palestinians and Palestinian institutions.
The resolution also demands Israel allow all Palestinians displaced during the occupation to return to their place of origin and make reparation for the damage caused by its occupation.
The resolution stems from the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July, in which the Court declared that Israel’s continued presence in the Territory “is unlawful”, and that “all States are under an obligation not to recognize” the decades-long occupation.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/09/1154496
@48, @52: If “a judge of the International Court of Justice in the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” is a member of a country club, then that country club is still not a court — even if it is a really nice country club.
What you’ve foolishly attempted here is called “Argument from Authority,” and it’s not exactly the crushingly incontrovertible argument you seem to believe it is. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority#:~:text=An%20argument%20from%20authority%20is,in%20this%20way%20is%20fallible.
what i don’t understand is why all these “fuck america” types don’t simply emigrate to one of the utopian countries they admire so much (perhaps Iran, Canada, Afganistan, etc.). Oh, that’s right most of those countries won’t take you (try looking up he requirments for Canadian citizenship for example). best of luck to you, don’t let the door !hit you in the ass on your way out
@53 Why don’t yo go to fucking joe blow on the internet to get your car fixed, moron.