Every great film opens with the MGM Bezos.

Monday, May 24, 2021
BY SARAH LAZARUS & CROOKED MEDIA


** -Andrew Yang ([link removed]) on his favorite subway station, Times Square
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A tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Gaza militants held over the weekend, as Gaza residents once again faced the daunting challenge of rebuilding while under blockade.

* The reconstruction of Gaza will be...something of a project. Israeli airstrikes destroyed hundreds of housing units ([link removed]) , damaged six hospitals and dozens of schools, and took critical infrastructure offline, according to the U.N. Electricity shortages have affected desalination plants, creating water shortages ([link removed]) : Some 800,000 people in Gaza—about half the population—currently lack regular access to clean water. The price tag to piece things back together will be somewhere in the billions, and it could take years.

* The blockade that Israel and Egypt have kept in place since 2007 will be (and has been ([link removed]) ) a major complication. Israel has maintained strict restrictions ([link removed]) on the flow of necessary construction materials into Gaza, on the grounds that Hamas could use things like cement and pipes for its own nefarious purposes. Hamas’s dual status as 1) a U.S.-recognized terrorist organization and 2) the governing body in Gaza also makes the U.S. and other countries squeamish about funding the rebuilding efforts directly.

* Last week, President Biden pledged to send humanitarian aid to Gaza in partnership with the Palestinian Authority ([link removed]) , which controls the West Bank but has no clout in the Gaza Strip. Secretary of State Tony Blinken will head to Israel on Tuesday ([link removed]) with the stated goal of stabilizing the ceasefire and grappling with the humanitarian crisis, but said he won’t use the trip to try to restart long-term peace talks. All of the elements that fueled the latest conflict remain volatile ([link removed]) —and the Israeli Supreme Court is expected to deliver its ruling on the displacement of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah in about two weeks.

In a disturbing trend closer to home, the latest violence in the Middle East appears to have driven a surge in attacks on American Jews.

* There have been at least 26 antisemitic incidents ([link removed]) reported across the U.S since May 10, including several physical attacks. Biden denounced the rise in attacks ([link removed]) on Monday, joining Democratic lawmakers in their forceful ([link removed]) condemnations ([link removed]) of antisemitism. The recent uptick comes amid a larger wave of troubling incidents: Even with pandemic lockdowns in place, the number of antisemitic incidents in 2020 was close to the highest on record ([link removed]) .

* Predictably, Republicans like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) (fresh off voting against a bill to combat anti-Asian hate crimes) have blamed Democrats’ criticism of the Israeli government ([link removed]) (not antisemitism) and advocacy for Palestinian rights (also not antisemitism) for the rise in antisemitic attacks. Also predictably, those same Republicans seem far less concerned about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) comparing the House mask mandate to the Holocaust ([link removed]) , and then doubling down it.

Even if the current truce remains stable, there’ll be no sustainable peace without a fundamental restructuring of the Israeli-Palestinian status quo. The last several days should make clear that the pursuit of equal rights for Palestinians isn’t a Palestinian cause alone—a more just Israel promotes the safety of Jewish people around the globe.

On the latest episode of With Friends Like These, host Ana Marie Cox is joined by former mayor of Tallahassee Andrew Gillum. After 14 months of sobriety and stepping away from politics, Gillum sits down to discuss his recovery and the work he’s currently doing to destigmatize mental health issues. Check it out by subscribing to With Friends Like These wherever you get your podcasts ([link removed]) →
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Trump supporters who tried to overturn the 2020 election are now running for secretary of state positions in key battleground states ([link removed]) , which is a little like the shark from Jaws applying to be a lifeguard (nobody steal this movie idea). There’s Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA), who voted against certifying the election results, and Arizona state Rep. Mark Finchem, who’s been a big cheerleader of the haphazard, conspiracy-based Maricopa County audit. Jim Marchant, who sued to have his failed 2020 House bid overturned, is now running for the top elections post in Nevada, and Kristina Karamo, who was all over right-wing media yelling about imaginary fraud, hopes to take the reins in Michigan. The next time Republicans try to overturn an election result they don’t care for, they might not come up against principled elections officials refusing to go along with it. Let’s make sure those officials aren’t the only line
of defense: votesaveamerica.com/forthepeople.
* A newly disclosed intelligence report on sick researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology ([link removed]) lends more weight to the lab-leak theory of the coronavirus’s origin, but it’s still unclear whether the researchers were actually sick with coronavirus.

* The Biden administration will double the amount of federal funding for helping communities prepare for extreme weather events ([link removed]) , and launch a NASA-led effort to collect better climate data.

* Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WHY?) refused to acknowledge a link between Trump’s big lie and GOP efforts to make voting more difficult ([link removed]) , offering a timely reminder that underneath the recent high-flown speeches and op-eds about the sanctity of democracy, Liz Cheney sucks.

* Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT)—who, to be clear, also sucks—said he would vote in favor of an (all-but-doomed) bill to establish a January 6 commission ([link removed]) .

* Impeachment Season One Guest Star Gordon Sondland has sued former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ([link removed]) for $1.8 million in unpaid impeachment legal fees. The suit alleges that Pompeo reneged on his promise that the federal government would cover Sondland’s attorney fees after Sondland delivered damning testimony and refused to resign.

* More than 100 Associated Press journalists have condemned the outlet’s decision to fire Emily Wilder ([link removed]) over her pro-Palestinian activism and old tweets. On Saturday, Wilder issued her own statement ([link removed]) : “What future does it promise to aspiring reporters that an institution like the Associated Press would sacrifice those with the least power to the cruel trolling of a group of anonymous bullies?”

* Jeffrey Epstein’s prison guards admitted that they falsified records from the night of Epstein’s death ([link removed]) , and made a deal with prosecutors to avoid jail time.

* A Commerce Department security unit has transformed into an amateur spy brigade ([link removed]) that secretly dug through employees’ offices and searched Americans’ social media for critical posts about the Census. The Biden administration has suspended its activities.

* Amazon is closing in on a deal to buy MGM ([link removed]) . Enjoy the MGM lion now, before it is replaced with a roaring Jeff Bezos.

* If a strange peace recently washed over you with no explanation, that may have been the moment CNN quietly ditched Rick Santorum over his racist comments about Native Americans ([link removed]) .

* Joe Biden is a weird-headlines-on-Apple-News guy ([link removed]) . That just feels like an important disclosure to have on file.

Belarusian authorities diverted a Ryanair flight to Minsk in order to arrest dissident journalist Roman Protasevich on Sunday ([link removed]) , in a test of a cool new tactic for terrifying authoritarian leaders. Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary accused Belarus of “state-sponsored hijacking,” and said he believed some Belariusian KGB agents were also on the flight. The E.U. has barred all European airlines ([link removed]) from flying over the country’s airspace, and has begun the process of banning Belarusian airlines from flying over Western Europe. The Biden administration has joined European leaders in demanding Protasevich’s immediate release. The E.U. has been unusually quick to impose harsh sanctions, and for good reason: It's an alarming new precedent that could embolden other repressive governments to start snatching
journalists and dissidents out of the sky.
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Try Jura today, and support our tiny island community. Go to jurawhisky.com/Lovett ([link removed]) and use code LOVETT10 to receive $10 any Jura you buy. As they say in Scotland - Slàinte Mhath (Slanj-ee Vah)! Gaelic for good health.

The Biden administration ([link removed]) will allow more than 100,000 Haitians in the U.S. to request temporary protected status.

New data ([link removed]) has shown the Pfizer vaccine to be highly effective against B.1.617.2 and B.117, the variants first identified in India and the U.K.

Eight states ([link removed]) have now vaccinated at least 70 percent of their adult population.

United Airlines ([link removed]) will start a ticket lottery for vaccinated members of its loyalty program.
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