Biden vs. Trump: US Border Edition

Written By Guest User

Civilians killed in Gaza aid delivery; Navalny funeral today in Russia

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Good morning,

Who runs the world? Girls. AMC is thanking Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, whose concert films were “literally all” the reason behind a 12% revenue jump in the last quarter of 2023.

  • AMC distributed “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” and “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé.”

  • “Just these two films represented fully one-ninth of the complete fourth-quarter, domestic, industry-wide box office,” AMC CEO Adam Aron said.

Now, other artists want to join in the fun. Aron says AMC’s phones are “ringing off the hook” as musicians want the theater giant to distribute their concerts.

Madonna, anyone? Let's see what comes next!

Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren

🇺🇸 BIDEN-TRUMP DUELING BORDER VISITS

 

Via: WSJ.

 

President Biden and former President Trump made dueling trips yesterday to the US-Mexico border —about 300 miles apart — as the migrant crisis is top of mind for many voters.

  • The visits came as a federal judge in Austin, TX blocked the state from enforcing a law that would allow local law enforcement agents to arrest people they suspect of illegally entering the country. The judge wrote that the border has always been a federal responsibility, and each state cannot have its own immigration policy. Texas is appealing the decision.

TRUMP BLAMES BIDEN: Trump visited Eagle Pass, TX, where he delivered a speech blaming Biden and his policies for the increase in record crossings. Eagle Pass has been a central site for the state-led border crackdown. Trump also blamed recent increases in border crossings for what he’s calling “migrant crime,” saying the country is being overrun with terrorists and criminals. While there is no evidence of a major surge in migrant crime, there have been a number of high profile crimes committed by migrants.

  • Trump pointed to the recent murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley, who was found dead after jogging on the University of Georgia campus. Her suspected killer is an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela.

LET’S GET TOGETHER: President Biden was in Brownsville, TX (a much calmer part of the border), where he tried to showcase successes on the border. He criticized Republicans, but then offered to work with Trump on the stalled bipartisan border bill.

  • The White House spent months negotiating the deal with Republican and Democratic senators— but it couldn’t get enough support to pass the Senate, partly because of opposition from Trump who didn’t want to give Biden a political win ahead of the election. Trump also insists Biden can secure the border without Congress.

  • Biden said the bill—which changes asylum law and includes billions in funding—was necessary, and asked everyone to “set politics aside” to get it passed. 

    • “We work for the American people,” Biden said addressing Trump. “So instead of playing politics…why don’t we just get together and get it done?”

  • Biden also said border patrol, immigration enforcement, and asylum officers told him they need more resources and that more judges need to be hired, noting the backlog of immigration cases.

Via: Washington Post.

🇮🇱 MIDDLE EAST UPDATE: NO HOSTAGE DEAL, 30K DEAD IN GAZA

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to get worse with a lack of food, water and medicine. Case in point— more than 100 people were killed and hundreds more injured in Gaza City as an aid convoy of nearly 3 dozen trucks arrived on Thursday. There are opposing accounts about what happened:

  • Hamas says Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd of people waiting for humanitarian aid.

  • Israel disputed the casualty count and said people died in a stampede towards the aid trucks, not from Israeli fire— which they said were warning shots not directed at the convoy. They released footage of the aid convoy (above).

    • The military said their investigation showed that fewer than 10 of the casualties were a result of Israeli fire.

  • As far as the shooting, they say dozens of Palestinians began to move toward an IDF tank and troops stationed at the military’s checkpoint away from the aid convoy. They are further investigating the incident.

Bottom line: it reinforces the extremely desperate situation in Gaza. The Biden Administration says it’s looking for more information about what happened, but regardless, “too many Palestinians died.”

  • State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said: “Just from the aerial footage you can look at that and right away conclude that the situation is incredibly desperate. People are swarming these trucks because they’re hungry, because they need food, because they need medicine and assistance.”

  • THE AREA: Northern Gaza was mostly evacuated early in the war, but people are gradually moving back despite continued fighting. Hamas had a police force there that is now gone, Israel is restricting aid movement in some areas, and there’s a complete lack of civil infrastructure. Armed gangs and Hamas terrorists have been taking over aid trucks. The UN says more than 500,000 Gazans are facing “catastrophic levels of deprivation and starvation.”

STATUS UPDATE ON A HOSTAGE DEAL & CEASEFIRE 
It appears that President Biden was being overly optimistic when he said a new hostage deal could be reached by the end of this weekend. Hamas says there has been no breakthrough and that it is not accepting the current proposal. Israel also says the two sides are far apart. The goal is a deal before the holy Muslim holiday of Ramadan starts March 10.

  • Negotiators from the US, Israel, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to hammer out a deal that would see the release of some of the roughly 130 hostages held in Gaza since Oct. 7, in exchange for a temporary ceasefire, Palestinian prisoners and more aid.

PALESTINIAN DEATH TOLL HITS 30K
It comes as the death toll in Gaza has passed more than 30,000 since Israel launched its military response to the Hamas attacks on October 7th. The death toll is likely an underestimate given the number of missing, and the bodies buried under rubble.

  • The numbers come from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry– which claims 2/3 of those killed are women and children. The ministry numbers don’t distinguish civilian and Hamas combatant deaths.

  • Israel says over 13,000 of those killed in Gaza were members of Hamas. It defends the civilian casualty ratio given the tough urban environment, and compared to other modern wars.

    • For example, in some of the urban battles the US and coalition partners engaged in against insurgents and ISIS in Iraq, anywhere from three to eight civilians were killed for every combatant.

  • Nonetheless, the casualties are adding to international pressure on Israel to stop its offensive, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war will continue until Hamas is eliminated.

🇷🇺 NAVALNY FUNERAL SET FOR TODAY IN MOSCOW

The funeral for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died on Feb. 16 while detained in a remote Arctic penal colony, will take place today in Moscow.

His family in Russia wants the service to be open to the public, but his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, warned that mourners — hundred of whom have already been arrested across the country — might be detained if they attend.

FEW ANSWERS
Russian authorities still say they don’t know the cause of Navalny’s death at age 47. He was poisoned in 2020 with a Soviet-era nerve agent and was flown to Germany for treatment, and his wife suspects something similar happened in prison.

  • Navalny’s team said Russian authorities are threatening to “disrupt” the service if his family does not hold a “quiet, family funeral.”

  • Former Moscow bureau chief for BusinessWeek Paul Starobin says today’s funeral will be a “kind of barometer of public feeling” toward Russian President Vladimir Putin.

  • 🎙️ Mosheh interviewed Starobin about his new book, Putin’s Exiles and discussed the state of Russia, the protests and Putin’s future. The full interview is available to Mo News premium members on the members-only podcast.

FLEXING HIS NUCLEAR POWER
Meanwhile, Putin is once again threatening to use nuclear weapons, saying if NATO countries put troops on the ground to help Ukraine they’ll risk global nuclear war.

  • Earlier this week French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that NATO allies could send troops to Ukraine instead of just weapons and money.

    • The US says it has no plans to send troops to Ukraine.

  • Note: This is not the first time Putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons over the last couple years, and the Pentagon says there is no reason to change US nuclear posture.

 

⏳ SPEED READ

 
 

🚨NATION

📌 Alabama House approves measure aiming to protect IVF after court’s personhood ruling (CNN)

📌 Democrats help Johnson pass short-term funding bill to avert government shutdown (ABC NEWS)

📌 Texas wildfire becomes largest in state history, "critical" fire weather to return (AXIOS)

📌 Blockbuster California storm to deliver crushing blow of 10 feet of snow and blizzard conditions (CNN)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 France again floats idea of sending troops to Ukraine (ABC NEWS)

📌 Many Iranians planning to boycott first regime-organized election since killing of Mahsa Amini (GUARDIAN)

📌 Mexico’s most dangerous volcano erupts 13 times in past day, prompting airport delays (AP)

📌 Canada reimposes visa requirement on Mexican nationals (NBC NEWS)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Musk's Neuralink brain implant company cited by FDA over animal lab issues (REUTERS)

📌 Food packaging containing toxic "forever chemicals" no longer sold in U.S., FDA says (CBS NEWS)

📌 SEC reportedly investigating OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s communications (FOX BUSINESS)

📌 Oprah to leave WeightWatchers board of directors (NBC NEWS)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Parents call out ‘Willy Wonka Experience’ that used AI to sell a “terrible” time, police called (FOX NEWS)

📌 Justin and Hailey Bieber go to church after her Dad requests 'a little prayer' over social media for the two (PEOPLE)

📌 All of AMC’s revenue growth came from Taylor Swift and Beyoncé films, theater chain says (CNBC)

📌 Caitlin Clark to forgo final year at Iowa, enter WNBA draft (ESPN)

🎉 CHEERS TO THE FREAKIN WEEKEND

Guest User
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