The White House Office of Digital Strategy is worried that a viral $16 McDonalds meal is hurting the President’s image and trying to counter this “misinformation.” If endless wars and debt don't hurt the administration, an overpriced value meal sure will!
Israeli and Palestinian leaders exchanged hostages this weekend during a ceasefire that is being called temporary. The number of prisoners exchanged on both sides has been inconsistently reported. Reports say that between 39 and 58 hostages were freed by Hamas to Israel and between 40 and 120 hostages were freed by Israel to Palestinians.
At least 18 of the freed Hamas prisoners were foreign nationals, mainly from Thailand. The hostages reported that they were fed meals of bread and rice and had long wait times for the bathrooms. An 85 year-old woman who was freed before the ceasefire said that she was well treated and given medical care but at least one hostage freed this weekend was rushed to the hospital because her pre-existing condition had not been treated properly in captivity, according to the hospital director. This video of young girls being returned to their parents will tug at your heartstrings no matter how you feel about this conflict.
The conditions in which Israel has held the 150 political prisoners has received very little coverage. So far those released included 15 teenage boys and 24 women. Israel regularly uses "administrative detention” tactics to hold prisoners without charge or trial for up to six months or longer.
The ceasefire is set to expire shortly but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel will resume its attack on Gaza “with full force.” Yet he is facing a popular uprising that is calling for his resignation. Massive anti-Netanyahu crowds gathered this weekend outside his residence calling for his resignation. Protestors say that he was responsible for the October 7 attacks and in fact even the Washington Post somewhat surprisingly admits that the Prime Minister supported Hamas instead of working to broker true peace.
A member of the Ukrainian parliament confirmed that Ukraine was set to sign a peace deal with Russia in March of 2022 but the West sabotaged the deal and ordered Ukrainian President Zelensky to keep fighting. Had that peace deal been signed, thousands of innocent lives would not have been lost.
This revelation is something we’ve known for a long time but this is further proof. It comes from an interview with parliamentary leader David Arakhamia on Ukrainian TV channel 1+1. He confirmed that Boris Johnson's visit to Ukraine in March of 2022 was the pivot point that caused Zelensky to ditch the idea of peace and continue to fight.
“They really hoped almost to the last moment that they would force us to sign such an agreement so that we would take neutrality,” he says. “It was the most important thing for them. They were prepared to end the war if we agreed to – as Finland once did – neutrality, and committed that we would not join NATO.”
The cruel irony is that the same deal that Zelensky refused may have been the best deal for Ukraine. They won’t get nearly as good of a deal now that four regions of Ukraine voted to join Russia and between 70,000- and 100,000 soldiers have died on Ukraine’s side. Ukraine has a far worse negotiating advantage now and yet, as Antiwar.com points out, “Ukraine’s Western backers are [now] discussing Kyiv’s opening dialogue with Moscow.”
So, worse deal, many deaths, 20 months of war. Was that worth it? U.S. lawmakers will vote on that very question this week as they debate yet another funding package for Ukraine.
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The World Health Organization is urging citizens in China to return to masking and distancing protocols amidst an outbreak of a pneumonia.
Chinese authorities say that this increase in respiratory diseases is due to the lifting of those very protocols from the Covid-19 pandemic. China lifted Covid protocols later than most countries. The countries that lifted protocols two years ago had this SAME increase in respiratory viruses last year. But now that China is having it, global panic!
ProMed, a privately-run online disease surveillance system, says that these are “clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia.” How does one track “undiagnosed” anything?
19. That is the age of Manchester United player Alejandro Gernacho. People are freaking out over his overhead kick goal this weekend.
37. That is how old South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is now after serving only half of his 13-year sentence for murdering his girlfriend in 2003. He was recently granted parole and will be released in January.
$30,000. That is how much Prince Harry paid out of pocket to charter his own private plane when The Queen was dying, according to new revelations about the royals. He apparently asked his brother William for help but the texts went unread and unanswered.
A new study out of Norway found that people who wore masks during the Covid pandemic were more likely to get Covid by about 75%!
This is a cross-sectional study and it was based on self-reporting of both mask-wearing and Covid diagnosis. Yet it points to the need for further examination when coupled with several other studies showing that masking may not work. None of this was new to health officials when they instated mask mandates. In fact, some studies suggested that mask wearing could cause the virus to go deeper into the body and cause a more severe case of Covid. This is called the Foegen effect.
The Norwegian study says that the increased Covid cases in mask wearers was “likely due to unobservable and hence nonadjustable differences between those wearing and not wearing a mask.” Meaning it may not be the mask itself but other factors that differentiate the mask wearer from the non-mask wearer. Like the Covid vaccine, which we also know increases the risk of contracting Covid? The study does not posit that as a reason but it is also worth discussing.
This video is trending of American Airlines ground staff chucking a wheelchair down a baggage chute. American Airlines says that they're looking into this.
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is trending because that happened this weekend.
Fire Ants are trending because there is an outbreak of them in Australia. Farmers say that a “war-like response” is necessary.
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This newsletter is written and researched by Natali Morris. Please feel free to reach Natali at [email protected] for any editorial feedback.
