You Had Me At Jell-O
Propaganda War, Ceasefire Talks
"Now, there’s no question China has been trying to crack down on the internet ... Good luck! ... That’s sort of like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall." That joke delivered a couple decades ago by Bill Clinton hasn't aged well. Countries like China and Russia have done a pretty good job cracking down on the internet, but not just by limiting what people see. Instead, they've followed a model famously described by Steve Bannon. "The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit." The Jell-O can't be nailed to the wall. But the zone can be so flooded with garbage, the Jell-O ceases to matter anyway. And the zone extends from remote areas in Africa to college campuses to a social media account near you. Wait, are we talking about Jell-O or shit or zones or democracy or media or truth or lies? Welcome to the flooded zone. In The Atlantic (Gift Article): Anne Applebaum does a great job explaining The New Propaganda War. "If people are naturally drawn to human rights, democracy, and freedom, then those concepts have to be poisoned." And sadly, these efforts know no borders—ethical or geographic. "Here is a difficult truth: A part of the American political spectrum is not merely a passive recipient of the combined authoritarian narratives that come from Russia, China, and their ilk, but an active participant in creating and spreading them. Like the leaders of those countries, the American MAGA right also wants Americans to believe that their democracy is degenerate, their elections illegitimate, their civilization dying. The MAGA movement’s leaders also have an interest in pumping nihilism and cynicism into the brains of their fellow citizens, and in convincing them that nothing they see is true."
+ Meanwhile, all of this is about to get super-powered: Brad Parscale helped Trump win in 2016 using Facebook ads. Now he’s back, and an AI evangelist
2
Cease the Day?
"Hamas announced Monday it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a cease-fire to halt the seven-month-long war with Israel in Gaza, hours after Israel ordered about 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating from the southern city of Rafah, signaling that a long-promised ground invasion there could be imminent." (Now, let's see if Columbia U agrees to the truce.) This is the Middle East, so let's take any good news with a pillar of salt. But these are the most positive ceasefire headlines we've seen since the war started. It's worth noting that Hamas only budged when the threat on their leadership was imminent.
+ Israel says the deal Hamas agreed to was not the one that was negotiated. Here's the latest from the Times of Israel and CNN.
+ The stakes, both human and geopolitical, are huge. Why Israel is so determined to launch an offensive in Rafah. And why so many oppose it.
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The Persuadables
"Roughly 244 million Americans will be eligible to vote. But 99.5% of us won't be deciders: We won't vote. Or we always vote the same way. Or we live in states virtually certain to be red or blue." Axios: The titanic Biden-Trump election likely will be decided by roughly 6% of voters in just six states. And those voters are not following each question in the Trump trial or reading 10,000 word articles on the nuances of the campus protests or even basing their political choices on the fate of Kristi Noem's pets. They're harder to reach and the campaigns will spend billions trying to do so.
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Elevator Pitch
"In the first half of a January game at Stamford Bridge, the London stadium where the Chelsea Football Club has played since its founding in 1905, seven well-groomed spectators in green velvet jackets stood up together from their seats behind the substitutes’ bench as players raced up and down the field in front of them. They pulled out books and began to read. Then they all brushed their teeth." The sideshow was all part of a marketing effort for an upcoming movie. But it's also part of a trend that's invading England (and no, I don't mean teeth brushing, I mean the Americanization of English sporting events). NYT (Gift Article): When a Bunch of Bloody Yanks Came for English Soccer. "American investors are gobbling up the storied teams of the English Premier League — and changing the stadium experience in ways that soccer fans resent."
+ England is not the only country irritated by a threat to tradition. Why France is finding vegan croissants hard to stomach.
5
Extra, Extra
Impose, a Challenge: "As much as I don't want to impose a jail sanction, I want you to understand that I will if necessary." Judge finds Trump violated gag order again and threatens jail time. (You'd be forgiven for thinking there's a better chance at peace in the Middle East than Trump ever being held accountable.)
+ Cap and Frown: "Columbia University is canceling its main ceremony and will focus on multiple school-specific celebrations instead." Universities change commencement plans after weeks of turmoil. Meanwhile, protesters in Michigan spoiled some graduation ceremonies over the weekend. People worked for years and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to get to this moment, they should be able to have it. Is it that difficult of a line to draw? You can protest. You can't infringe upon the rights of others to go to class, hold events, etc.
+ Murders in Mexico: "Thieves apparently killed the three, who were on a surfing trip to Mexico’s Baja peninsula, to steal their truck because they wanted the tires. They then allegedly got rid of the bodies by dumping them in a well near the coast." 3 bodies in Mexican well identified as Australian and American surfers.
+ Med Man: Former NFL player Nate Jackson with a really interesting look at how the positioning of weed changed in professional football. It mirrors a lot of the ways it has changed in broader society. I Wish I’d Never Become The NFL Weed Guy.
+ Best Bot Forever: "Aaron is one of millions of young people, many of whom are teenagers, who make up the bulk of Character.AI’s user base. More than a million of them gather regularly online on platforms like Reddit to discuss their interactions with the chatbots, where competitions over who has racked up the most screen time are just as popular as posts about hating reality, finding it easier to speak to bots than to speak to real people, and even preferring chatbots over other human beings." (I gotta get myself a chatbot.) The teens making friends with AI chatbots.
+ Trash Talk: "Shannon Sweeney slipped on a pair of black latex gloves and tore open the trash bag sitting on a 47th Avenue sidewalk. 'Bingo,' she said, pulling out a document listing the address of the home just feet from the pile of broken furniture, cassette tapes and garbage bags clogging the public walkway. Mail, shipping labels and bills are gold for Sweeney: They provide the identifying information she needs to crack down on whoever’s waste is sullying city streets." San Francisco is littered with trash. These detectives are busting those responsible.
6
Bottom of the News
"Late last year Randy Smith got a text from a complete stranger. She thanked him for putting her to sleep. Smith was shocked to discover that he was a YouTube star. The Ormond Beach, Fla., retiree was even more surprised about why: A tutorial he recorded and sold as a VHS tape in 1989 on how to use Microsoft Word had resurfaced as 'THE MOST BORING VIDEO EVER MADE' with 3.1 million views and close to 11,000 comments so far." WSJ (Gift Article): Is This the Most Boring Man in the World? Insomniacs swear by dull narrators who put them to sleep, whether on purpose or not.
+ Amazingly, there's a site that just features fake, boring baseball games intended to help people fall asleep. (During the current roadtrip, the SF Giants at-bats have worked for me.)
I listened to some of the fake baseball. It is very relaxing and sort of charming, and, yes, I fell asleep but that happens no matter what I listen to at bedtime. (Also, while the Detroit Tigers are my team - and aren't batting much either - I do like listening to the Giants occasionally for the great Jon Miller.)
Pell's detestation of Hamas is understandable, but he ignores Israel's (Bibi's) support of Hamas for many years in its brutalization of Gazan Palestinians, just as he ignores the KKK vigilantism of settlers (with IDF support —much as Southern sheriffs supported KKK viciousness— against Palestinians on the West Bank, and just as he ignores Israel's creation over decades of an apartheid state, with Palestinians treated much as our deep South treated Blacks during Jim Crow. Middle Eastern history did not begin on Oct. 7, and Hamas's viciousness was inspired, though not justified, by decades by Israeli viciousness.
In what way, one wonders, is Israel an ally of the U.S., except in the money the connection funnels to our arms dealers? And why are we supposed to care more for Israeli Jews than for brutalized Kashmiris or Tibetans or Sudanese?
The often-mindless protests on college campuses reflect the newly visible brutality that has become a habit for Israel. What that tiny state, of no strategic interest, is doing to unarmed civilians has revolted much of the world, but Pell is a Zionist first and last and about as open to objectivity as our Magats.
Sadly, he has not commented about Israel's decision to close Al Jazeera in Israel, though it is by far the most objective and thorough publication in the Middle East. I can't recall him linking to a story from Al Jazeera.
It is not mandatory for all Jews to be Zionists, no more than it was mandatory for all Whites to support our own apartheid. One can detest Israeli brutality while simultaneously detesting Hamas's brutality and lock-step ideology.