It's The Racism, Stupid

Decoding DEI, BiBI Goes to Washington

Back when he was a strategist for the 1992 Bill Clinton campaign, James Carville coined the phrase, It's the economy, Stupid. Times have changed. Elections are about a lot more than the economy and, given our latest culture wars, a better 2024 adage might be, It's the stupidity, Stupid. Sadly and predictably, since the recent ascension of Kamala Harris to to the top of the Democratic ticket, another bleak and seemingly eternal American screed has reared its ugly head. For those in the media who want to tiptoe around the issue, let's offer what should be an obvious maxim: It's the racism, Stupid. Probably the person least surprised by the racism and misogyny already being launched at Kamala Harris is Kamala Harris. Harris can effectively counter these messages by embracing the unity most independent and young voters crave and leaning into the gender issues, since reproductive rights and women's healthcare are key (and winning) campaign issues. She should rise above the muck. But the rest of us have a responsibility to get down into it, and call racism out whenever it emerges—which could feel like playing a game of Whac-A-Mole the size of Capitol Hill. Because that's where a lot of the racism is coming from. For example, there's Tenn Rep Tim Burchett who amplified the most common refrain, that Harris owes her achievements to DEI (Diversity Equity Inclusion). I guess the MAGA crowd thinks Kamala hasn’t earned her role because she didn’t work her way up from petty crimes to financial fraud to rape to stealing classified docs to election interference to inciting an insurrection? The irony of DEI trope is that the propagandists who spread it ostensibly argue for the return of a meritocracy, but by clinging to issues of race and gender, they prove they are afraid to compete in one.

I'm not the only one calling out these transparantly prejudiced attacks. So are the former and current GOP Speakers of the House. Mike Johnson and other Republican leaders have urged party members against racist and sexist attacks on Harris. (Editor's note: If you have to urge your colleagues not to be racist and sexist, you may have a problem.) Kevin McCarthy described the DEI attacks as "stupid and dumb. (And in this case, the redundancy works.) Of course, the Speakers will find it difficult to quell the racism and misogyny that is instinctual to many of their followers, and entirely impossible to even turn down the volume of the torrent of hate that comes the man they have chosen to DEI-fy as their party leader.

+ Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff face online wave of sexist, racist attacks. And when you whip up a storm of fury, it's not easy to contain it. JD Vance's wife, Usha, faces racist online backlash from far-right social media posts.

2

Blame the Messenger?

Following a lengthy ovation (by those who chose to attend), Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress in a speech where he warned of the danger of Iran, praised and thanked Biden for his support, and vowed to bring back the hostages. "The pain these families have endured is beyond words. I met with them again yesterday and I promised them this: I will not rest until all their loved ones are home. All of them."

+ Of course, the big question in Israel is whether Bibi has done more to help or to hurt the cause of the hostages and general security. Netanyahu’s Visit to Washington Is Already a Debacle. "No U.S. official met him at the airport when his plane landed. A meeting with President Joe Biden, which had been loosely scheduled for Tuesday, has been postponed till Thursday or Friday, if then. An address to a joint session of Congress is still on for Wednesday, but Vice President Kamala Harris won’t be presiding, citing an out-of-town commitment. Many lawmakers, from both parties, will boycott the session. Outside the Capitol, thousands of protesters will gather—some pro-Palestinian, some Israelis who think Netanyahu shouldn’t be going anywhere before striking a cease-fire and getting the hostages released. Thus the visit will highlight hostility toward Israel and strife within Israel—when the original point of the trip was to dampen both."

+ "We can’t rely on miracles. We need action to eliminate the threat. Only one action will accomplish this, and that’s to topple the Hamas regime in Gaza. I want to say here and now: We won’t stop … We’ll complete the task. We’ll topple the regime of Hamas terror." Was that Netanyahu's speech to Congress today? Nope, it was a speech he gave in 2009. Yair Rosenberg in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Nothing Netanyahu Says Will Matter. Let's hope the efforts to end the conflict and bring home the hostages do matter, and for once, people are put above political ambitions.

3

Garbage in, Garbage Out

AI trains on web pages. But AI also writes an increasing amount of web content. And a lot of that content is garbage. "New research ... shows that the quality of the model’s output gradually degrades when AI trains on AI-generated data. As subsequent models produce output that is then used as training data for future models, the effect gets worse." AI trained on AI garbage spits out AI garbage. (At least it's recyclable garbage.)

4

Five Ring Circus

"After COVID-19 pandemic restrictions kept spectators away for the last two Olympic Games (in Beijing and Tokyo), the French capital has prepared to welcome back crowds with a splash: the public will be treated to a unique opening ceremony on the iconic River Seine." NPR: 8 storylines to follow as the Paris Summer Olympics get underway. (Meanwhile, Covid doesn't seem have gotten the memo.)

+ The Ringer’s Guide to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

+ Coco Gauff to join LeBron James as Team USA flag bearer for Olympic Opening Ceremony. If Coco's smile can't achieve world unity, nothing can.

+ "Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry doesn’t have much room left in his trophy case thanks to his two NBA Most Valuable Player awards, four NBA championships, an NBA Finals MVP award and even a Joe Dumars Trophy as the 2010-11 NBA Sportsmanship Award winner. At 36 years old, about the only thing Curry is missing is a gold medal that could soon be his at his first Olympic Games."

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Extra, Extra

Carbon Tacts: "Many of the private ventures have repeatedly and, authorities say, illegally laid claim to publicly protected lands, generating enormous profits from territory they have no legal right to and then failing to share the revenue with those who protected or lived on the land. The use of such lands to sell credits also contributes little to reducing carbon emissions." WaPo (Gift Article): How ‘carbon cowboys’ are cashing in on protected Amazon forest. Related: Earth just broke its record for the hottest day in thousands of years. And then it broke it again the next day.

+ Pay (for) Attention: Amazon is racing to release a new and improved AI version of Alexa. This one will cost customers. What's the rush? "A paid version of Alexa is part of a strategy change to reverse the over $25 billion in losses that its devices business incurred from 2017 to 2021."

+ A Good Shot: "Twice-yearly shots used to treat AIDS were 100% effective in preventing new infections in women, according to study results published Wednesday." (Next need: Getting the price down.)

+ Distance Learning: "The gunman in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump is believed to have done a Google search one week before the shooting of 'How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?' FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday, revealing new details about a suspect he said had taken a keen interest in public figures but had otherwise not left behind clear clues of an ideological motive."

+ Fund Razer: "The Trump campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday, accusing Vice President Harris’s campaign of improperly taking over President Biden’s campaign funds when he left the race." (You know, because Trump hates when campaign finance rules are broken.)

+ Ocean News: "The severed leg of a surfer who was attacked by a shark has washed up on an Australian beach, with doctors now racing to see if it can be reattached." And a whale off New Hampshire slammed into a fishing boat, hurling men into the Atlantic.

6

Bottom of the News

"CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm that crashed millions of computers with a botched update all over the world last week, is offering its partners a $10 Uber Eats gift card as an apology." And then the gift cards didn't work either. (I'm guessing the gesture was a hoax. If CrowdStrike was trying to make things up to IT workers, they would have offered something stronger than food...)

+ "We’re offering ongoing support for our Hotdoggers and we appreciate the support we’ve received from local authorities. Safety on the road is top priority for us." Wienermobile crashes on Tri-State Tollway near Oak Brook — but 'Hotdoggers' safe. (Police later grilled the drivers about putting too much mustard on the gas pedal in an effort to ketchup with deliveries. Sorry, that was the wurst.)