Weekly News Roundup - 9/6/24
Voting in the 2024 election begins today (sort of) // Hostage murders shake Israel // Georgia school shooter's dad arrested // Russia pays for right-wing influence
Welcome to the 35th 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
"The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see." - G.K. Chesterton
"That’s not why I wanted my daughter to pick up a book. It wasn’t about optimizing her brain function but about being privy to a certain subtle magic. You know when an author sums up a feeling you didn’t even know you’ve had, and a hundred lightbulbs go off on the top of your head in a kind of epiphany? I wanted her to have a chance at feeling that. As Neil Postman wrote in 1982 in “The Disappearance of Childhood,” a screen-based medium like TV or video can’t create this kind of relationship because, by its nature, the medium must fill in all the blanks for you. Books leave space for blanks — and for the internal invention they can inspire." - Mireille Silcoff
Big Stories This Week
The murder of six hostages in Gaza by Hamas sparks massive protests in Israel in favor of a ceasefire, even as the Biden administration faces new doubts about whether a deal is possible. Hamas released videos each day of the week showing footage of the murdered hostages when they were alive, and on Thursday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "There’s not a deal in the making."
The father of a 14-year old school shooter in Georgia was quickly charged with multiple crimes and will face serious jail time if convicted. This comes after a Michigan couple was convicted earlier this year of failing to stop their teenage son from killing four students in a 2021 school shooting in Michigan.
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson hosted an amateur historian on his online show and podcast who argued that World War II was British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's fault and that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis did not intend to commit genocide. A series of pieces in Bari Weiss' The Free Press teased out the way Carlson's guest says Churchill was controlled by Zionists and financiers, as well as the inaccuracy of his claims. Carlson, who called this amateur historian "the best and most honest popular historian in the United States,” is scheduled to appear with Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance later this month at a campaign event. Vance on Friday declined to condemn Carlson's decision to air these views but a spokesman said he "does not share the views of the guest interviewed by Tucker Carlson."
Polling in the presidential contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump remained very close, with Harris holding a slight edge in national polling but tied with Trump in Pennsylvania and Georgia, which will be two states that decide the election.
The U.S. economy continued to slow down, setting the stage for an interest rate cut from the nation's central bank.
Week in Review
Friday, Aug. 30
A Brazilian judge suspends Twitter in that nation after the company declines to remove content flagged by the jurist.
Donald Trump says he'll vote against a ballot measure in Florida that would make abortion legal longer than the six weeks it's currently allowed, a few days after telling Fox News that "you need more time" than six weeks. The measure would make abortion legal until fetal viability, which is generally 23 or 24 weeks.
Saturday, Aug. 31
Israeli soldiers recover the bodies of six hostages, four men and two women, killed by Hamas. One of the six murdered is an American citizen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose parents had been public leaders in the campaign to get the hostages released. His mother Rachel and father Jon had pleaded for the rescue or release of the hostages at the Democratic convention in Chicago two weeks ago, after speaking at the Republican convention a month earlier. "Hersh, if you can hear us, we love you, stay strong, survive," Rachel said at the DNC. The murder of the hostages prompts plans for a major workers strike in Israel on Monday.
NFL rookie Ricky Pearsall, a first round pick drafted by the San Francisco 49ers this year, is shot in the chest by a 17-year old assailant in central San Francisco during an attempted robbery. Pearsall is taken to the hospital in serious but stable condition. Bystander video shows him walking to the ambulance under his own power.
Sunday, Sept. 1
Between 200,000 and 500,000 people gather in the streets of Israel to protest against the Netanyahu government, calling on it to do more to reach a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza and free the remaining hostages. It is the largest protest in Israel since the beginning of the war nearly a year ago.
Actor George Clooney is asked about his op-ed calling on President Biden to step aside, and says that Biden "did the most selfless thing that anyone’s done since George Washington" when the nation's first president chose to step aside rather than seek a second term in power. "It’s very hard to let go of power. We know that. We’ve seen it all around the world. And for someone to say, ‘I think there’s a better way forward.’ All the credit goes to him … And all the rest of it will be long gone and forgotten," Clooney says.
Monday, Sept. 2
Americans observe Labor Day, which commemorates the nation's organized labor movement.
Workers in Israel bring the nation to a halt for a few hours, in protest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and calling on him to bring home the remaining Israeli hostages, as thousands attend the funeral of Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
President Biden is asked whether Netanyahu is doing enough to reach a ceasefire and says, "No."
A five-judge panel in Brazil upholds a ban on Twitter/X in the country.
Four people are shot and killed on a train in the Chicago suburbs.
Tuesday, Sept. 3
Two Russian ballistic missiles hit the Ukrainian city of Poltava, killing at least 50 people and wounding another 200.
Protests continue in Israel for a third consecutive night, calling for a ceasefire.
A former aide to two New York governors is arrested along with her husband at their $4 million home and charged with acting as an agent for the Chinese government to influence state policy and messaging, in exchange for financial rewards.
Wednesday, Sept. 4
Four people (two students and two teachers) are killed in a Georgia high school shooting 45 minutes outside Atlanta, and at least nine others are wounded.
The Justice Department files arrest warrants against two Russian nationals who it says funneled millions of dollars to pro-Trump social media influencers with several million followers between them to promote their message. DOJ also seizes 32 website domains it said were being used by the Russian government to wage what Attorney General Merrick Garland calls a "covert campaign to interfere and influence the outcome of our country's elections."
Vice President Kamala Harris says she would raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% and increase the tax on capital gains from 20% to 28%. The Harris campaign emphasizes that President Biden has called for greater tax increases.
Pope Francis begins an eleven-day trip to southeast Asia, stopping first in Indonesia. He will also travel to Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. It is the longest trip of his 11-year old papacy. He emphasizes "harmony in diversity", encourages inter-religious dialogue, and warns against "extremism and intolerance, which through the distortion of religion attempt to impose their views by using deception and violence,” during remarks in Jakarta.
Thursday, Sept. 5
Colin Gray, 54, the father of a 14-year old who shot and killed four people and wounded nine others at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, is arrested and charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children. He is accused of "knowingly allowing his son, Colt, to possess a weapon," police say.
Hunter Biden pleads guilty to nine federal tax evasion charges, and will be sentenced in December. "I will not subject my family to more pain, more invasions of privacy and needless embarrassment. For all I have put them through over the years, I can spare them this, and so I have decided to plead guilty," Biden says in a statement. Hunter Biden was convicted in June on felony gun charges and faces sentencing in November in that case.
Donald Trump says he would put Elon Musk in charge of a committee to study the efficiency of the U.S. government.
The NFL season begins with a Kanas City Chiefs 27-20 win over the Baltimore Ravens.
Friday, Sept. 6
The latest U.S. jobs report confirms a slowing economy. The number of jobs added over June, July and August was 116,000 per month, compared to 269,000 per month the first three months of the year. The trend raises questions about whether an interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve, expected soon, will be enough to reverse the trend of less hiring.
The first ballots of the 2024 election are sent out, in North Carolina, the first state in the nation to send out mail ballots to voters. (You do have to request a mail in ballot in North Carolina, but you can do so for any reason and do not need an excuse -- more details here). In-person early voting is only 10 days away in Pennsylvania, the first state to begin that process, with Minnesota, Virginia, Vermont and Illinois following in the days after. Axios has a run down of each state's early vote (in person only - no details on the early mail-in vote) here. You can see which states allow no-excuse mail-in voting (where you can vote by mail but usually need to request a ballot, like North Carolina) here.
Interesting Reads
How a narrow strip of scrubland has become an obstacle to a cease-fire in Gaza, by Joseph Krauss for The Associated Press
Sitting All Day Can Cause Dead Butt Syndrome, by Jen Murphy for The New York Times
Arlington cemetery controversy shines spotlight on Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s sudden embrace of Trump, by Hannah Schoenbaum for The Associated Press
Illegal voting by noncitizens is rare, yet Republicans are making it a major issue this election, by David A. Lieb for The Associated Press
‘Moving in the Dark’: Hamas Documents Show Tunnel Battle Strategy, by Adam Goldman, Ronen Bergman and Natan Odenheimer for The New York Times
I Paid My Child $100 to Read a Book, by Mireille Silcoff forThe New York Times
Tucker Carlson Goes There by John Ganz for Unpopular Front
Bari Weiss: The War on Our History for The Free Press
Platforms like Telegram Accused of Facilitating Child Sexual Abuse Can’t Invoke Free Speech Protections, by Renee Diresta for The Unpopulist
How the quiet war against press freedom could come to America, by A.G. Sulzberger for The Washington Post
The End of Democracy Has Already Begun, by Anne Applebaum and Peter Pomerantsev for The Atlantic
Commander of Navy warship relieved of duty months after backward rifle scope photo flap, by the AP
A French woman whose husband is accused of inviting men to rape her testifies in court, by Lewis Joly and Nicolas Vaux-Montagny for The Associated Press