Weekly News Roundup - 8/30/24
Cemetery disputes and prison threats // Trump backtracks on abortion // Telegram CEO arrested in France
Welcome to the 34th Weekly News Roundup of 2024. The archive for all weekly news roundups is here.
In 2024, the Border Stalkers Substack is featuring one news update a week, and one book a month, with weekly posts on each book. The book of the month schedule is here.
These weekly dispatches are designed for people who may not have time to do more than glance at the headlines, or who want to stay informed without becoming obsessed by politics and news. These roundups are a targeted way to get a sense of the shape of the past week on the national level. Without such a map, we can be disoriented, not knowing where we have been over the past several days, or where we may be going.
But by spending concentrated, limited time thinking about the big picture, we can devote more of our time to where “agency and justice begin and end,” as Karen Swallow Prior put it: “on the ground, bodily, in community and real relationships, in flesh and blood.”
Quotes of the Week
"Will anyone listen to this music in thirty years? I wish more people asked themselves that question, honestly. Not that all music needs to carry such a heavy burden, but you need to give people a reason to listen to your music more than once. Most music fails in that regard. That’s a lesson I’ve learned from pop music, especially." - Chris Schlarb
“I don’t know why God allows for suffering,” he replied. “All I know is that God is on the side of the sufferer.” - Philip Yancey
"Years from now ... it will be noticed that the massive collection and speed-of-light retrieval of data have been of great value to large-scale organizations but have solved very little of importance to most people and have created at least as many problems for them as they may have solved." - Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, published 1985
"A proud man cannot laugh because he must watch his dignity; he cannot give himself over to the rocking and rolling of his belly. But a poor and happy man laughs heartily because he gives no serious attention to his ego ... Even Confucius warned, 'Beware the man whose belly does not move when he laughs.'" - Terry Lindvall, Surprised by Laughter, p. 139
Big Stories This Week
Donald Trump inserted himself back into the news in a few ways. He tried to position himself as more favorable toward abortion access and in vitro fertilization. He also posted on social media about putting his political opponents in jail. It came out that he talks in a new book about imprisoning Mark Zuckerberg. And his campaign staff got into a physical altercation with an employee of Arlington National Cemetery who tried to remind them of rules about respectful treatment of the graves of U.S. military dead.
Kamala Harris did her first press interview since becoming the Democratic nominee, as the polling average shows her with a roughly two-point lead nationally and tight races in key battleground states.
Israel launched attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon and on militants in the West Bank, but said it will pause fighting in Gaza for three days to allow the World Health Organization to administer polio vaccines.
The CEO of a tech firm, messaging app Telegram, was arrested in France and charged with crimes for not doing more to stop illegal behavior on his platform, a story with big implications for many other tech and social media companies.
Week in Review
Friday, Aug. 23
Donald Trump says that if he is president it will be "great for women and their reproductive rights," using a term that signals support for access to abortion. In remarks at an event, he also says Republicans support in vitro fertilization. It's a recognition that some of the GOP's positions on IVF and abortion have cost the party support.
Saturday, Aug. 24
The founder and CEO of the messaging service Telegram, Pavel Durov, is taken into custody by French authorities, reportedly because of the platform's facilitation of child pornography, money laundering and drug distribution, and because of a lack of cooperation by the company.
NASA decides that a Boeing space capsule is not safe to take two astronauts back to earth from the International Space Station, meaning that the two -- Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams -- will have to remain there until a SpaceX ship can bring them back in February. Their visit was supposed to last a week and will now be eight months.
Sunday, Aug. 25
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance says that Donald Trump would "absolutely" veto a national abortion ban if he is elected, angering anti-abortion activists who have supported Trump.
Around 100 Israeli warplanes strike targets in southern Lebanon to prevent what the Netanyahu government says is an imminent attack by militant group Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas which is backed by Iran. Hezbollah launches hundreds of drones and rockets but an Israeli military spokesman says there is "very little damage" in Israel. Three militants are killed in Lebanon by the Israeli strikes. More than 500 people in Lebanon have been killed by Israeli strikes since the Hamas attack on Israel last fall, with around 100 of them being civilians and the rest militants, according to the AP.
Monday, Aug. 26
Special Counsel Jack Smith files a brief in an Atlanta federal appeals court urging the court to reinstate the classified materials case against former President Trump.
Trump visits Arlington National Cemetery, and some of his staff are involved in an altercation with a cemetery official who tries to enforce a rule prohibiting photographs in a section of the cemetery for U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A federal district court begins hearing arguments in the Biden administration's case against the merger of Kroger Foods and Albertson's, two supermarket chains, which the government says will increase food prices for consumers.
A federal judge in Texas halts a White House program that would grant legal status to spouses of U.S. citizens without having to first leave the country.
Russia launches one of its biggest missile and drone strikes on Ukraine in weeks, firing over 100 projectiles into Ukrainian territory and killing at least four people.
Singer Mariah Carey says that both her mother and sister died over the weekend, in separate instances.
Tuesday, Aug. 27
Special counsel Jack Smith files a new indictment against former President Trump, in the case brought against Trump for his part in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The special counsel's filing is more narrow than the original indictment, following a July 1 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that found that presidents have immunity from criminal prosecution for their "core official acts."
More than 200 staffers for four previous Republican presidential nominees sign an open letter supporting Kamala Harris for president, saying that while they "have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz ... another four years of Donald Trump’s chaotic leadership ... will hurt real, everyday people and weaken our sacred institutions."
Israel launches a large military attack in the West Bank, killing at least 16 people. Israel said all were militants while Hamas said 10 were.
Iran's supreme leader signals a willingness to negotiating with the U.S. over its nuclear program.
Police in a suburb of New York city make their first arrest under a public safety law banning face masks except for medical use.
Wednesday, Aug. 28
The death toll from a listeria outbreak linked to Boars Head deli meats reaches nine people, the CDC says. The AP reports that there have been "two deaths in South Carolina plus one each in Florida, New Mexico, Tennessee and New York, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Three deaths were previously confirmed in people who lived in Illinois, New Jersey and Virginia."
Afghanistans religious fundamentalist government, the Taliban, publish a 135-page document on "vice and virtue" laws that include bans on women showing their faces in public, looking at men, or singing, reciting or reading aloud in public.
Donald Trump shares multiple posts that reference putting politicians and lawyers in jail who have investigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021 by Trump supporters.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov is both released from a French jail and also charged with criminal activity by French authorities, who barred him from leaving France. "Allegations against Durov, who is also a French citizen, include that his platform is being used for child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, and that Telegram refused to share information or documents with investigators when required by law," the AP reports.
Thursday, Aug. 29
Trump threatens Meta (Facebook) founder Mark Zuckerberg with "life in prison" if he does anything like his $400 million in contributions to election officials around the country during the 2020 election. The comment comes in a new book, mostly of photos, being released by Trump and obtained by the Associated Press. Zuckerberg's contributions were intended to help election officials run the process in the midst of a pandemic and no evidence has shown that the money helped Democrats, but some on the right have blamed the money for doing so. Zuckerberg had already said earlier in the week that he did not intend to give a similar donation for the 2024 election.
The New York Times reports for the first time that Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a U.S. military veteran, claimed in 2006 to have received the Bronze Star, but had only been recommended for the award at that time and never received it.
Two journalists in Hong Kong are convicted of sedition by a court in a trial seen a test of press freedoms in the former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Trump again comments on in vitro fertilization, this time saying that if he is president he would mandate that insurers pay for the service or have the government pay for it.
Kamala Harris sits down for her first major media interview since becoming the Democratic nominee, speaking to CNN's Dana Bash, after weeks of criticism from Republicans that she was avoiding scrutiny and the press was giving her overwhelmingly positive coverage.
Leading artificial intelligence companies Anthropic and OpenAI agree to provide early looks at their AI models to the U.S. government's Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute, a step toward prioritizing prevention of societal harm from AI innovation.
The U.S. Army says that members of Trump's campaign “were made aware of federal laws” prohibiting photographs in a section of Arlington National Cemetery during Trump's visit Monday, but that a cemetery "employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside."
Israel says it has killed five more militants in the West Bank as its military operation continues.
Interesting Reads
All Of These People Saved Me: An interview with Chris Schlarb, by Dave Sumner for Bird is the Worm
How Telegram Played Itself by Casey Newton for Platformer
Ready or not, election season in the US starts soon. The first ballots will go out in just two weeks, by The Associated Press
Why Nippon Steel’s $15 Billion Takeover of U.S. Steel Is in Peril, by River Akira Davis for The New York Times
The Christian Persecution Narrative Rings Hollow, by David French for The New York Times
A rare but deadly mosquito virus infection has Massachusetts towns urging vigilance, by Nick Perry for The Associated Press
Church sex abuse scandals in East Timor met by silence, but Pope Francis’ visit brings new attention, by Niniek Karmini, David Rising and Nicole Winfield for The Associated Press
Zuckerberg’s Spineless Surrender: Rehashing Old News To Enable False GOP Narratives, by Mike Masnick for Techdirt
Texas man is exonerated after spending nearly 34 years in prison for wrongful conviction, by Ken Miller for The Associated Press