Argentina's New (Crazy) Leader
Here are some witty memes to mark our times on the 48th week of 2023 featuring source material from Star Trek Lower Decks and Hailey’s On It!
Headline Story - Anarcho-Capitalist For President
On Sunday, Argentines went to vote again after the election went into a runoff between Sergio Massa, the center-left economy minister whose ruling party brought the country into an economic catastrophe, and Javier Milei, a far-right libertarian economist and television personality. Milei, who praised Trump as the best president of the United States, has been copying his moves by claiming voter fraud days before the actual election day. Luckily for Milei, he doesn’t need to copy what Trump did in 2016, because he won the election on Sunday. A former TV personality and sex guru turned politician, Milei’s far-right libertarian policies like changing the Argentinian Peso to the US Dollar and massive government cuts have alarmed economists and foreign policy experts but have appealed to a public tired of economic downturn from past financial decisions. Celebrations and congratulations by far-right leaders like Trump and Bolsonaro came in soon afterward, while groups like Argentinian science researchers are worried about what might happen to their work.
Headline Story - Tentative Peace?
On Thursday (16/11), the UN human rights chief said hunger and disease are now inevitable in Gaza as Israel continues its operation inside Al Shaif Hospital, as Israel opposition leader Yair Lapid called for Netanyahu to resign, the most high-profile figure in Israel’s government to do so as a majority of Israelis want the current PM to go. On Friday, Netanyahu admitted the Israelis are 'not successful' in minimizing civilian casualties, but then blamed Hamas for contributing to the deaths. Saturday saw an escalation in the war as hundreds of patients, staff, and displaced people fled the Al Shifa hospital while Israeli troops targeted the south after rumors the headquarters of Hamas is not located underneath the hospital in the north but somewhere in the south. At the same time, Israel denied it had hit a UN shelter as hundreds were feared dead. Late Sunday, the IDF claimed Hamas had hidden and murdered hostages inside the Al Shifa Hospital as 28 babies were evacuated from the hospital which the WHO dubbed as a death zone. They have crossed the border into Egypt and into specialist hospitals. The families of Israeli hostages marched over the weekend to put pressure on Israel’s government, which as now we know is negotiating the release of dozens of hostages. On Tuesday, Pan-Arab News Network said an Israeli strike killed two of Its journalists, and Lebanon’s military and caretaker PM both blamed Israel for the attack. According to Axios, at least 42 journalists were killed in this war, marking the deadliest conflict to journalists in years. The intergovernmental organization BRICS had an online meeting on Tuesday in which they heavily criticized Israel’s actions in Hamas, with the South African side who hosted the event claiming Israel has committed war crimes and genocide.
Then suddenly out of the blue, The Washington Post reported Israel and Hamas had agreed to a tentative deal brokered by the United States that would free dozens of women and children held hostage in Gaza, in exchange for a five-day fighting pause which would begin in the next several days if there were no last-minute hitches. Hours before, Joe Biden published an op-ed in the newspaper saying a “ceasefire is not peace,” called for Hamas to release hostages, letting the Palestinian Authority take control of the West Bank and Gaza, and suggested visa bans to people behind ‘extremist violence’ against Palestinian citizens in the West Bank. It was later revealed the hostage deal is in its final stages with no major hiccups in the coming negotiations, and starting on Monday Biden said a hostage deal is close. Then on Tuesday, Reuters reported Hamas chief said a truce agreement with Israel is near, Israel also signaled progress on negotiations that day, and news reports suggest the announcement of the deal was set to be made by Qatar. Axios reported late Tuesday that a deal between Israel and Hamas to free dozens of hostages and declare a multi-day ceasefire was imminent. Then on Wednesday, despite Netanyahu saying Israel’s war on Hamas will not stop even after a ceasefire, Israel agreed to a hostage deal with Hamas, making it the biggest diplomatic breakthrough since the Hamas attack on October 7.
At the time of writing, Hamas claimed they would begin the ceasefire on Thursday morning but Israel has not confirmed it. At the same time, Israel says they will extend the ceasefire by a day for every 10 hostages released.
Side Story - Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly
X (aka Twitter) is in meltdown mode after its owner Elon Musk supported an antisemitic tweet that was supported by the Pittsburgh shooter who launched the worst antisemitic attack on US soil in 2018. As a result, companies such as IBM, Apple, Disney, and Warner Bros have pulled out advertisements from the platform, and the White House condemned Musk for his comment. In the most ironic twist in relation to Musk, SpaceX lost its Starship rocket in the rocket’s second launch after eight minutes on Saturday (The first one blew up much earlier). It blew up good, blew up real good! In response to what he called a “fraudulent attack on our company,” Musk threatened to drop a “thermonuclear lawsuit” against the media watch group Media Matters for America and the companies involved in dropping X advertisements. He filed the lawsuit on Monday with the help of Texas’s Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Late Friday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stepped down from his role (which is code for fired), after he lost the confidence of his board due to lying to them. A corporate memo first reported by Axios the next day said there was no malfeasance in firing Altman, as the move blindsighted Microsoft and the AI industry. The co-founder of OpenAI Greg Brockman quit just hours after Altman’s departure, with the company’s investors pressuring the OpenAI board to reinstate Altman. In a sudden twist from the New York Times, Saturday night came reports that both Brockman and Altman were said to return to OpenAI and were discussing it with the company board. Then in another surprising twist, Bloomberg reported the company board didn’t agree to Altman’s reinstatement terms and hired former Twitch chief Emmett Shear as chief executive officer, and Altman and Brockman will instead lead a new in-house AI team at Microsoft. Just when that was not dramatic enough, on the same Monday Altman was announced to not have rejoined OpenAI, 500 employees of OpenAI signed a letter to quit if Altman is not reinstated. Bloomberg then reported on Tuesday Altman and the OpenAI board were renegotiating conditions to bring back the former CEO. Then in another gigantic twist, Altman and OpenAI announced the former fired boss will return to the company on Wednesday under a new supervised board.
In other tech news, TikTok is under more threats of being banned in the US as critics accuse the platform of spreading antisemitic and pro-Palestine content, which included posts praising Osama Bin Laden’s Letter To America and led to The Guardian taking down the full translated letter in 2002 after it went viral. And on the same day Joe Biden met Xi Jinping, US lawmakers wrote to Apple CEO Tim Cook over the cancelation of comedian Jon Stewart’s show on Apple+ over worries that the ‘coercive tactics of a foreign power’ led to the political TV show’s end.
Side Story - Fight Club Congress
Good news to the bare minimum the US government can do, the Senate passed the House bill that will prevent a government shutdown for nine weeks, and was signed afterward by Joe Biden on Friday. The President came back from a fruitful meeting with President Xi of China which included agreeing to continue high-level military talks, albeit name-calling the Chinese counterpart a dictator during a press conference might have dampened the mood a little. At the same time, Biden was revealed to have compared Trump’s “vermin” rhetoric with words used during Nazi Germany. On Thursday, George Santos announced he would not run for reelection after a damning House Ethics report on him, which accuse him of using campaign funds for Botox and OnlyFans. Santos is now facing another expulsion vote after Thanksgiving. In the recent The World Ahead 2024 publication from The Economist, the magazine announced Donald Trump poses the biggest threat to the world in the upcoming year. On Monday, Joe Biden celebrated his 81st birthday, a day after new polls showed bad headwinds for the president and falling support from young voters over his support for Israel in its war against Hamas. On the same day, a federal court moved to drastically weaken the landmark Voting Rights Act, which the ruling is almost certain to be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Other Memeified News
Headline Recap
The Standard: Suspected sale of dog meat online turns out to be a scam in disguise | The Standard
Reuters: Taiwan election is a choice for democracy or China, frontrunner says | Reuters
WSJ: Australia Accuses China of Injuring Naval Divers With Sonar Pulses - WSJ
NPR: North Korea claims it has put a spy satellite into orbit in 3rd attempt
BBC: Two million displaced as Myanmar conflict spreads: UN
SCMP: Myanmar hands over to China thousands of telecoms fraud suspects
AP: Conservative Muslims in Indonesia protest Coldplay concert over the band's LGBTQ+ support | AP News
BBC: Spain's Pedro Sánchez wins new term as PM after amnesty deal - BBC News
Reuters: Liberia President George Weah concedes election defeat to Joseph Boakai | Reuters
Guardian: Dutch party leaders clash in TV debate as election nears
BBC: Cameron makes first official visit to Ukraine
Reuters: UK PM Sunak reportedly said 'just let people die', COVID inquiry hears | Reuters
WaPo: Latino backlash grows over Donald Trump’s friendly Univision interview - The Washington Post
FT: US thwarted plot to kill Sikh separatist on American soil
CNN: Trump ‘engaged in an insurrection,’ judge says, but should remain on Colorado ballot | CNN Politics
ABC: David DePape found guilty in federal trial over Paul Pelosi hammer attack - ABC News
Sky: Yemen's Houthi rebels seize cargo ship they claim is Israel's in Red Sea
NYT: Colombia to Sterilize Pablo Escobar’s ‘Cocaine Hippos’ - The New York Times
Bloomberg: Binance, CEO Zhao To Plead Guilty in US Settlement: WSJ - Bloomberg
WaPo: UAW members ratify record contracts with Big 3 automakers
BBC: Banksy: BBC reveals lost interview of street artist after 20 years - BBC News
FT: Australia beats India in Cricket World Cup final
NYT: David Letterman Ends Conspicuous Absence From ‘The Late Show’
BBC: Shakira: Singer settles Spanish tax fraud case with €7.5m fine - BBC News
AP: Taylor Swift's Rio tour marred by deaths, muggings and a dangerous heat wave
Long Read Recommendations
Economist: Joe Biden and Xi Jinping rediscover the joy of talking. Good
FT: Italy, Albania and the myth of a European migrant crisis
NYT: The War Turns Gaza Into a ‘Graveyard’ for Children
WaPo: After affirmative action, a Black and White teen rethink Ivy League schools - Washington Post
Guardian: Richest 1% account for more carbon emissions than poorest 66%, report says
Atlantic: How ChatGPT Fractured OpenAI - The Atlantic
Foreign Affairs: Redefining Success in Ukraine | Foreign Affairs
New Yorker: Biden and Xi’s Blunt Talk | The New Yorker
Wired: The Mystery at the Heart of the OpenAI Chaos | WIRED
FT: How has public opinion on the Israel-Hamas war shifted?
Guardian: The Netanyahu doctrine: how Israel’s longest-serving leader reshaped the country in his image
WSJ: Tired Ukrainian Troops Fight to Hold Back Russian Offensive: ‘They Come Like Zombies’ - WSJ
BBC: BBC 100 Women 2023: Who is on the list this year?
NYT: Why the Oslo Accord Between Israelis and Palestinians Failed - The New York Times
Keith Olbermann: TEXAS VS. MEDIA MATTERS IS A PREVIEW OF TRUMP 2025 - 11.22.23
New Yorker: One Family’s Perilous Escape from Gaza City | The New Yorker