The Times They Are a Changin’ Too Fast
| PNUT GALLERY |
Today’s PNUT is in memory of Nick Becker. Nick “was a friend to all and a protector of the weak.” Yesterday we wrote about the digital bystander effect. Some readers wrote in, asking how to overcome the perceived hopelessness of the (digital) bystander effect? Should we contribute financially to a cause? Should we like George Orwell, suit up, and go overseas to fight injustice? Without sounding like Ann Landers or repeating trite suggestions, we recommend being civically engaged. Join or start causes that have practical ways of changing society for the better. If you are already part of a local cause, nonprofit, or association and would like to share your story about being a change agent in today’s world, then please share with us your activism at editor@dailypnut.com. We’ll be sure to share some of these stories, which we hope will be uplifting. If you don’t know where to start, then this seems like an interesting book to check out (from the library) to examine why and how to wield civic power. |
| IN A NUTSHELL: MUST READ |
Trump Changes Two Foreign Policy Tunes: Trump showed off his musical virtuosity and breadth yesterday by belting out David Bowie and Tupac’s (or really Bruce Hornsby’s) “Changes.” First, he removed Stephen Bannon from the National Security Council (NSC). And then he said his “attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed very much.” The latter is quite a reversal, given that he first said that regime change in Syria would be silly. Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the UN, outlined a more muscular approach toward Syria, attacked Russia’s support of the Syrian government, and even warned that the US could unilaterally decide to take action on Syria. Bannon’s removal from the NSC means that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, will be back as an NSC principal. The NYT reported that Bannon threatened to quit at one point when asked to step down from the NSC, and his demotion has initiated heated speculation as to whether or not Bannon’s clout within the White House has been diminished. Palace, er, White House intrigue over who now has the ear of the president has swung heavily in favor of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and Secretary of Everything. In a well-timed and apropos photo-op, Kushner was seated next to General Dunford yesterday when both were visiting Iraq. |
| NUTS AND BOLTS: SHOULD READ |
Mad Killings Over Cows in India: On Wednesday, a Muslim man was killed while driving in a cattle truck by a mob of more than 100 attackers. Pehlu Khan, 55, died in the hospital following the savage beatings, and several other men were also injured. Cows are a revered animal for most of India’s majority Hindu community. In the last two years, gangs of “cow protectors” have been implicated the deaths of at least 10 people as the welfare of the animal has become an increasingly charged political issue. Cow protection has been a trigger for sectarian violence throughout modern Indian history, but its resurgence since 2015 has been linked to an increasingly prominent Hindu nationalist movement. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came into power in 2014 promising to ban beef in all of India’s 29 states (currently, 8 states still allow it). Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party last month selected Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu monk with “a long record of bigoted and inflammatory rhetoric” about minorities, as chief minister of India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, which is home to 40 million Muslims. Adityanath began his administration by cracking down on illegal slaughterhouses, and Indians in other states face life imprisonment or death by hanging for killing cows. Most Hindus do not eat beef, but it is regularly consumed by people in southern India, as well as by Muslims, Christians, and traditionally poorer castes, who regard the animal as a cheap source of protein. |
| KEEPING OUR EYE ON |
The Left Wins the Presidency in Ecuador: Socialist Lenin Moreno was declared the winner of Ecuador’s presidential election. Incumbent party candidate Moreno won 51.1 percent of the vote and his conservative opponent Guillermo Lasso, whom three exit polls predicted would win after the vote on Sunday, got 48.8 percent. Moreno succeeds his close ally Rafael Correa, and his win bucks the recent trend across Latin America of people turning their backs on the left in favor of the right. Lasso has already indicated he will challenge the vote, having earlier alleged fraud. The Organization of American States (OAS), which acted as an observer during the election, said it saw “no discrepancies” between polling station and official results. Lasso has until April 12 to challenge the result officially. |
| LOOSE NUTS |
Oops! Britney Spears Interferes in Israeli Politics: In what can only be described as a proto-satirical show of planning, the Israeli Labour party, currently the nation’s main opposition party, had to postpone its leadership election, originally scheduled for July 3, because of a Britney Spears concert being held next door on the same day. Isaac Herzog, leader of the opposition in Israel’s parliament, was forced to admit that due to Spears’ performance, his party was unable to hire enough security guards for the convention to take place. The party’s elections will now take place on July 4. The struggling party attempted to minimize the press damage by suggesting that the new date would “make [it] easier for people to reach polling stations” as well as ensure less traffic. More Reads:
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