A Lightning Round (03.12.24)
Biden shifts against Bibi, Trump 180s on TikTok, and Saying Gay in Florida
Greetings from Cape Town, where it is 4:30 am Tuesday morning, and I am wide awake, just like I would be in NYC! No jet lag, yay!
There are three stories I read before dawn here that bear a bit of fleshing out, so I’m doing this before I hop on our tour today of Table Mountain and we go see the penguins here on the coast of South Africa!
Biden signals impatience with Bibi, and a big cut-off looms
The Israeli paper Haaretz is reporting that a big deadline looms for the Israeli government, imposed by a seldom discussed order by President Biden. “There is a very real chance that the United States will halt the sale of offensive weaponry to Israel by month’s end should it fail to dramatically improve the amount of aid entering Gaza, or if it launches a military operation in Rafah without a credible plan for the million-plus Palestinians sheltering there,” the paper wrote. That chance, according to Talking Points Memo, is due to a “tripwire” built into a national security memorandum that Biden signed in February.
Per that memo, Israel has until March 25 to provide assurances that weapons sold by the U.S. will only be used in accordance with international law and to pledge to facilitate, and not obstruct, deliveries into Gaza. Israel may have a very tough time making such credible assurances given its record to date.
In recent days, Biden has been putting significant pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu. On Saturday, Biden said that Netanyahu is “hurting rather than protecting Israel” in how he is approaching the war in Gaza against Hamas. This comes after his “hot mic” moment after the State of the Union, where he was overheard saying the two would have a “come to Jesus moment” (not the best choice of words for an Israeli PM, but message delivered). This is seen as part of a larger White House messaging shift that seeks to distinguish the nation of Israel from the man who currently leads it. It is a political tightrope that the Biden Administration now appears ready to walk, particularly given Netanyahu’s continuing unpopularity at home.
Trump won’t talk the talk on TikTok
A rare bipartisan agreement to force ByteDance, the Chinese parent of TikTok, to divest its U.S. interests in the company on grounds of national security had been cruising to passage. Both parties are interested in showing they are tough on China, particularly during an election year. But Donald Trump, who once signed an Executive Order, blocked twice by federal courts, that would have required something quite similar, has now jumped into the ring. He claims he is now opposed to the move to ban TikTok from U.S. app stores, claiming that it would upset millions of Americans and that it would be a huge gift to Facebook.
“Frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok that love it,” Trump said during an interview on CNBC. “There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it.”
Trump has no love for Mark Zuckerberg after being banned from Meta’s platforms, and he accuses Zuckerberg of meddling in the 2020 elections by donating to state and local election offices to help ensure election integrity. But the real reason for Trump’s 180 may be financial.
A billionaire investor in ByteDance named Jeff Yass appears to be behind Trump’s sudden shift. The two met recently, though Trump claims they did not discuss TikTok. Yass is a major donor to the conservative “Club for Growth,” through which he has funded a big push to block the TikTok ban. Republicans may now have to choose whether they fall in line behind Trump or stay firm against the threat of Chinese influence, now that Trump has made it clear he doesn’t want to see the bill pass. One of its co-sponsors is the third in command in the GOP House, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who is almost never out of step with her Dear Leader. Over in the Senate, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is already saying he is “conflicted” on the proposed law.
Okay, go ahead and say gay in Florida
Plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Florida’s so-called “Florida’s Parental Rights in Education” law have reached a settlement with the state over how far educators and administrators are supposed to go in classrooms and in teaching materials under the law. Critics have long charged that vagueness in the law had resulted in a chilling effect across the state, and the settlement is intended to put an end to the uncertainty.
The Tampa Bay Times reports:
“As part of the deal, the Florida Department of Education will send a memorandum to all school districts explaining that the law is not as restrictive as some schools have interpreted it. Among the clarifications, it will note:
The law does not prohibit classroom references to LGBTQ+ people, families or issues, including in literature, discussions with students and academic work such as student essays.
The law requires neutrality and bars classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity of all types, whether heterosexuality, homosexuality or others. It would be impermissible to say one is superior to another.
Because it refers to instruction, the law does not apply to library books that are not being used in class lessons. The state made this point in defending against separate lawsuits challenging library book removals.”
Further, under the guidance set out in the settlement, teachers may provide lessons about stopping bullying based on gender or sexual orientation, and they do not have to remove things like “safe space stickers” for LGBTQ+ students as some had done. Schools are not prohibited from allowing Gay Straight Alliance student clubs, holding book fairs that include books with LGBTQ+ characters, permitting performances with LGBTQ+ references, or allowing students to wear non-gender conforming clothing.
This retreat from the most hardline “anti-woke” positions follows DeSantis’s other moves to back away from the culture wars he ignited with companies like Disney; it may signal that, now that his quest for the presidency is over, DeSantis is just not as interested in targeting vulnerable sexual minorities in his state. Still, even while the law remains on the books, under this settlement many of its worst follow-on consequences will be abated.
The Tampa Bay Times interviewed plaintiffs Amy Morrison and Cecile Houry, a couple from Miami-Dade County. They were pleased to have something concrete to immediately improve the situation for their own child in school.
“It’s going to make a huge difference because the law was so vague that people stayed away from everything,” Houry said. “Here it really defines what is not allowed, and everything else that is allowed. It’s going to change students’ experience.”
“My kid is at an age that she doesn’t stop talking about everything,” she said. “I feel better that I don’t have to worry about everything that comes out of her mouth.”
I've always thought that President Biden was working privately with Bebe, and could not state publicly what he thought of the unpopular Israeli leader's policies. That is just the nature of diplomacy and our President is a master practitioner.
I guess now that he’s not completely neglecting his duties as governor by moonlighting as a Presidential candidate, Ron DeFascist made time to clean up the sh*t legislation he wrote .
Damage done.
Let’s hope Florida votes this moron out for ever more.