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Monday, February 5, 2024

U.S., Britain Unleash Large-Scale Barrage Against Houthi Targets

New York Times: The United States and Britain carried out large-scale military strikes on Saturday against multiple sites in Yemen controlled by Houthi militants, according to a statement from the two countries and six allies, as the Biden administration continued its reprisal campaign in the Middle East targeting Iran-backed militias. The attacks against 36 Houthi targets at 13 sites in northern Yemen came barely 24 hours after the United States carried out a series of military strikes against Iranian forces and the militias they support at seven sites in Syria and Iraq. American and British warplanes, as well as Navy Tomahawk cruise missiles, hit deeply buried weapons storage facilities; missile systems and launchers; air defense systems; and radars in Yemen (New York Times). Associated Press: The Houthis have been conducting almost daily missile or drone attacks against commercial and military ships transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and they have made clear that they have no intention of scaling back their campaign despite pressure from the American and British campaign (Associated Press).

With National Debt at $34 Trillion, We Will Soon Spend More on Interest Than National Defense

Bloomberg: When the US borrows money, it needs to pay its loans back with interest—just like any other borrower. But America’s national debt is currently $34 trillion and rising. Soon, the US will need to spend more each year paying interest than what it spends on national defense. In 2013, US debt surpassed the country’s GDP (Bloomberg). FEE: As the government’s debt grows, the amount of money the government must pay on interest increases. If the government issues a single one-year bond redeemed for $1,050, taxpayers have to pay $50 in interest. If the government issues two such bonds, it will end up being $100 in interest. If tax revenue can’t pay the bond, government officials will either have to increase taxes, take out a new bond increasing the debt and interest even further, or print money. All of these essentially amount to a tax increase. The problem for future taxpayers doesn’t end here, though. As government tries to borrow more, it has to offer increasingly better deals in order to entice lenders. After a while, promising $1,050 on a $1,000 bond won’t convince any new lenders. The government will have to up the ante to $1,060 (FEE).

NYC Spends $53 Million to Give Illegal Immigrants Pre-Paid Cards to Purchase Food

National Review: New York City will soon launch a $53 million pilot program to hand out pre-paid credit cards to migrant families sheltering in the city’s hotels. The program will begin with a group of 500 migrant families in short-term hotel stays and will supply them with the pre-paid cards that can only be used at bodegas, grocery stores, supermarkets and convenience stores. The illegal immigrants will be required to sign an affidavit swearing to only spend the money on food and baby supplies, lest they be ousted from the program. The funds will be doled out based on the size of the family and whether they are bringing in any income, the report says. For example, a family of four could receive nearly $1,000 a month, which works out to almost $35-per-day (National Review). New York Post: News of the pre-paid card program comes a day after The Post revealed another $137 million in contracts with city hotels to provide more than 750 rooms to asylum seekers with families. The city is housing just over 66,000 asylum seekers after 1,500 more arrived last week as part of a crisis that is expected to cost $10 billion through 2025 (New York Post).

UNRWA Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize While Employees are Under Investigation for Assisting Hamas

National Review: An Norwegian parliamentary official said that he nominated the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for the Nobel Peace Prize this week, after Israeli intelligence alleged that UNRWA employees participated in Hamas’s October 7 attack against Israel. At least twelve UNRWA staffers participated in the attack, an Israeli intelligence dossier revealed last week, and 1,200 of UNRWA’s 12,000 staffers in Gaza have ties to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Several countries, including the U.S., have since suspended funding for UNRWA. Labour MP Asmund Aukrust said he nominated UNRWA “for its long-term work to provide vital support to Palestine and the region in general,” and added that “this work has been crucial for over 70 years, and even more vital in the last three months” (National Review). New York Post: It is also believed that several of the UNRWA schools are hiding tunnels where Hamas officials may be keeping hostages (New York Post).

Texas Governor Greg Abbott Begins Constructing Border Wall

Governor Abbott is taking action to protect Americans. BizPac Review: Unbeknownst to most Americans, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott hasn’t just been installing razor-wire along the border against the Biden administration’s wishes; he’s also been building a border wall of his own (BizPac Review). Governor Greg Abbott: Texas made history as the first and ONLY state to build our own border wall. Construction is ongoing. We will not back down from our efforts to secure the border (X).

Trump Edges Out Biden in CNN Poll

Just the News: Former President Donald Trump is ahead of President Joe Biden in a potential White House rematch, according to a new CNN poll, while most Biden supporters say that they are voting against Trump rather than for the current president. As the presidential primaries indicate that the general election this fall will likely end up being a 2020 rematch, 49% of registered voters said they would vote for Trump, while 45% said they would support Biden. Of the people who voiced support for Biden, 32% said they would be voting for Biden while 68% said they would support him as a way to cast their ballots against Trump. Meanwhile, of the Trump supporters, 60% said they would be voting for Trump while 40% said they would be voting against Biden (Just the News). Biden’s overall disapproval rating is 68 percent (SRSS Poll).

Connecticut Looks to Become First State to Cancel Nearly $1 Billion in Medical Debt

Just the News: Connecticut Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont says his state plans on becoming the first one to cancel medical debt, freeing eligible residents from roughly $1 billion in medical bills by using $6.5 million from the COVID-era American Rescue Plan Act. Lamont plans on using the 2021 Rescue Plan funds to contract with a nonprofit organization to buy medical debt and eliminate it at a fraction of the cost. The way this works is that the non-profit buys the debt, just like for-profit debt collection firms do, but instead of then pursuing the collection of the debt from the individuals, the non-profit firm just notifies the individuals that their debt has been canceled (National Review). CNN: Residents whose medical debt equals 5% or more of their annual income or whose household income is up to 400% of the federal poverty line, or about $125,000 in 2024, are eligible. Those who qualify do not need to apply – they will receive letters in the mail saying their debt has been eliminated as soon as this summer. More than 1 in 10 Connecticut residents have medical debt in collections (CNN).

Oregon University to Replace D-, F Grades with No Credit

Fox News: An Oregon university announced they will abandon failing letter grades, citing a “GPA fixation” that negatively impacts students. Western Oregon University issued a news release earlier this month that revealed the school would be replacing “D-” and “F” grades with “no credit” to discourage undergrads from dropping out. Students who do not earn a passing grade in their course will be required to repeat the course and demonstrate proficiency (Fox News). Western Oregon University: The difference is that the grade of NC will not negatively impact student GPAs (Press Release). College Fix: The topic of grade inflation remains a pressing concern in higher education today. In December 2023, it was revealed that 79 percent of the grades given out at Yale University in the 2022-23 academic year were As. At Harvard, an identical 79 percent of grades were As in the 2020-21 academic year, an increase of over 20 percent in the last decade (College Fix).

Study Claims Merit-Based Hiring Practices Are Unfair

Daily Mail: Most employers hire individuals based on their qualifications – but a new study has claimed the process may be unfair. A study published in an American Psychological Association journal are now claiming that socioeconomic disparities should be the focus when seeking potential employees. Researchers conducted five experiments where participants were given background information about the two types of candidates, revealing those who learned about merit-based hiring perceived it as less fair. The study concluded that merit-based hiring fuels racial inequality as ‘members of marginalized racial groups tend to experience socioeconomic disadvantages more often than members of privileged racial groups.’ Merit-based hiring is when an employer hires a candidate solely on their resume, achievements including higher education, and their past career advancement (Daily Mail).

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Los Angeles Times: Nobody Should Be Allowed to Make More Than $20 Million in a Lifetime

Los Angeles Times: “Every billionaire is a policy failure.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez exemplified this motto when she entered politics and famously wore the slogan “Tax the rich” on her gown to the Met Gala. As a political philosopher, I support this too. I call this “limitarianism,” in which societies define a cap on how much personal wealth an individual can accumulate. But we should be morally more ambitious than only wanting to get rid of fortunes that are more than $1 billion. If we look carefully at the reasons for limiting personal wealth, we might well agree on a much lower maximum limit. Excess wealth keeps the poor in poverty while inequality grows. Research shows that the lion’s share of the gains that economies wield go to those who already have the most, while only a tiny fraction goes to those who have the least. Another important reason is that excess wealth undermines democracy. As I’ve found in my research, extreme wealth allows the super-rich to spend fortunes on lobbying, or to donate huge sums to support political candidates and parties, which gives them a bigger voice in political decisions. Perhaps the political upper limit should be $20 million. But surely not $1 billion (Los Angeles Times).