A Border Convoy, Secession, & Self-Driving Cars
February 5, 2024
Hello, readers – happy Monday! Today, we’re talking about aid packages, a convoy at the border, Israel’s ongoing offensive, more strikes on Houthis, a governor banned from a reservation, if Texas can secede (nope!), and Apple’s self-driving cars.
Here’s some good news: a retired U.S. military veteran named Danny Chauvin, A.K.A. the “honey-do dude,” is providing free daily handyman services to people in his community to help him work through his PTSD and give back to his neighbors at the same time. Also last night, Taylor Swift won her 13th Grammy award and announced her new album, “The Tortured Poet’s Department,” is coming on April 19th.
“Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.” – Helen Keller
House Republicans Play The Partisan Game
On Sunday, House Republicans announced that they would be passing a $17.6 billion military aid package for Israel – but not Ukraine – just a few hours before the Senate announced a proposal to beef up border security and immigration enforcement while authorizing more assistance to Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine.
The House GOP package allows Republicans to show their support for the IDF’s offensive while putting pressure on the Democrat-held Senate. The GOP’s Israel bill includes $4 billion for missile defense systems and $1.2 billion for systems that counter short-range rockets and mortar threats. The package will also fund new advanced weapons systems and missile production for the IDF. $4.4 billion more will pay for U.S. replenishment of missiles that will be sent to Israel, and $3.3 billion will pay for American operations in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of Senators worked out an agreement (likely D.O.A. in the House) for a $118.28 billion national security supplemental package. Included in the funding is $60.06 billion to Ukraine, $14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel, $10 billion in humanitarian assistance, and $4.83 billion for Indo-Pacific regional partners.
They Took Back A Tiny Portion Of A Border Town For A Day
As the situation at the Texas border continues to evolve, some interesting groups are flocking to the Lone Star state to make their voices heard. Trumpers and Christian evangelicals joined a convoy of about 100 cars headed towards the border town of Quemado as part of the “Take Our Border Back” rally. Organizers had anticipated 700,000 trucks forming a convoy in Virginia before visiting three Texas border towns, but their vision was … not quite manifested over the weekend.
At the rally, protesters waved Christian, pro-Trump, and Texas flags – as well as anti-LGBTQ and Islamophobic banners. “I believe that if we don’t have a border, we don’t have sovereignty. And if we don’t have sovereignty, we aren’t going to have civility,” said one person at the rally, adding that drug cartels own and operate the border.
“When we hear people like this trucker brigade say that they are the army of God and they’re espousing things that sound like Christian nationalist ideas, that puts a target on places like Eagle Pass,” said one preacher in the area speaking out against the rally. “A lot of people are here to say that the governor shouldn’t listen to federal law. That sounds a little bit like an insurrection.”
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Shelling The Safe Zone
- The war in Gaza is shifting south, bringing over 1.7 million Palestinians sheltering in the city of Rafah into the IDF’s crosshairs. On Sunday night, Israeli airstrikes across the whole Gaza Strip killed at least 127 people. Some of the missiles hit residential towers and a kindergarten in Rafah, a city Israel has designated as a “safe zone” that is currently housing over half of Gaza’s population.
- “There’s widespread fear that the military operation will expand to reach Rafah governorate, leaving absolutely nowhere to go for the vast majority of the internally displaced population,” said a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). “It’s adding yet more fear, stress and anxiety especially as people are faced with unprecedented inhumane living conditions. They have been forced into trying to survive.”
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country’s offensive has destroyed 17 of 24 Hamas battalions so far, adding that the rest are stationed within Rafah. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, claimed that the situation in Gaza would be different with Donald Trump as America’s president, claiming that Biden has been too “busy with giving humanitarian aid and fuel, which goes to Hamas,” instead of supporting Israel’s military campaign.
The DoD Deals Some Damage
- While Israel was launching strikes across Gaza over the weekend, the U.S. military was conducting its own business in the Middle East. The Pentagon fired off multiple strikes at Iran-backed militant targets on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, hitting multiple sites across the region. The biggest bombardment came on Saturday, when the U.S. and U.K. hit 36 Houthi targets in Yemen.
- In a series of T.V. interviews following the strikes, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that “we are prepared to deal with anything that any group or any country tries to come at us with,” adding that Iran can expect “a swift and forceful response” if one of the militant groups linked to it attacks U.S. forces in the Middle East directly. He also refused to rule out the idea of direct U.S. strikes against targets within Iran’s borders.
Additional World News
- Namibia president and anti-apartheid activist Hage Geingob dies. He pushed for Africa on world stage (ABC)
- Lysychansk: At least 28 killed in strike on Russian-occupied town in eastern Ukraine (CNN)
- Rishi Sunak begins Northern Ireland visit marking power-sharing’s return (BBC)
- At least 150,000 gather in Berlin to protest the far right (AP)
- British army would exhaust capabilities after two months of war, MPs told (Guardian)
- Russian police detain Western journalists at protest by soldiers’ wives (Politico)
Middle East Reads
- A requiem for Gaza’s iconic sites, destroyed in the war (NPR)
- A seaside town shelters thousands of Israeli evacuees, but struggles without tourists (NPR)
- Far-right Israeli minister’s criticism of Biden sparks anger at a sensitive time for US ties (AP)
Banned From Her Own State
- The Oglala Sioux Tribe banned Republican Gov. Kristi Noem from the Pine Ridge Reservation after Noem’s recent comments about immigration. Noem said she wants to send people and razor wire to the border, and also said that cartels are infiltrating reservations.
- Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out said she was banned “due to the safety of the Oyate,” and accused Noem of leveraging immigration in an attempt to secure the vice presidency for herself. Many of those arriving at the border are Indigenous people from places like El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico who come “in search of jobs and a better life,” the tribal leader added.
Nikki Haley’s Last Stand … On SNL
- The day after making a surprising appearance on Saturday Night Live, Nikki Haley continues her attempt to win over…well, anyone she can. Haley told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union,” when asked whether she thought Texas had a right to secede, “No. According to the Constitution, they can’t.”
- The concession is a reversal of her previous comments made to Charlamagne tha God, where she said, “if Texas decides they want to do that, they can do that. If that whole state says ‘We don’t want to be part of America anymore,’ I mean that’s their decision to make.” On SNL she also walked back her comments that the Civil War wasn’t about slavery.
Additional USA Reads
- South Carolina Democratic primary turnout for 2024 and how it compares to previous years (CBS)
- As violent crime soars in Washington, D.C. , Trump vows a ‘federal takeover’ (NBC)
- A woman stole a memory card from a truck. The gruesome footage is now key to an Alaska murder trial (AP)
- The Supreme Court weighs whether to end affirmative action at West Point (Vox)
- Wisconsin Democrats inch closer to overturning Republican-drawn legislative maps (AP)
- Nikki Haley makes surprise appearance on SNL, mocking Donald Trump and Joe Biden (NPR)
Apple Pumps The Brakes
- The Apple Vision Pro virtual reality headset just came out last Friday, but the company also seems to have its eyes on the self-driving car space. According to public records, the Silicon Valley giant almost quadrupled the testing miles for its top-secret autonomous vehicle program in 2023, testing its vehicles for 452,744 miles last year.
- This also means it still has a ways to go. For context, let’s take a look at Waymo, one of two companies California has allowed to fully operate autonomous vehicles in an Uber-like rideshare service – without any human drivers involved. The Alphabet-backed company tested its vehicles for 3.7 million miles with a driver behind the wheel, 1.2 million without a human driver, and 1.6 million more without any human passengers. Apple’s total testing miles are below 1 million with a human driver at the moment.
- The news is especially interesting given a Bloomberg report from last month, which claims that Apple has recently downsized its plans to build a self-driving car. The report added that Apple has changed its course to a more automated driving-assistance technology package, similar to the features seen in a Tesla.
Additional Reads
- ‘Stolen and disrespected’: museum inters 200-year-old remains of Black Philadelphians (Guardian)
- Paris votes whether to hit SUVs with eye-popping parking costs in latest green drive before Olympics (AP)
- Russian cosmonaut sets record for most time in space – more than 878 days (Reuters)
- ‘Literally off the charts’: global coral reef heat stress monitor forced to add new alerts as temperatures rise (Guardian)
- Stephen Curry: Warriors Star Joins Kobe Bryant in Exclusive 60-Point Club (Sports Illustrated)
- Target pulls Black History Month book that misidentified 3 civil rights icons (NPR)