December 20, 2024 ❧ Elon Musk shuts down the government, Amazon workers strike, and Mr. Beast goes tomb-raiding

Plus: AOC snubbed for Oversight, an atrocious defense spending bill, a climate victory in Montana, and glowing reindeer antlers

Rudolph the read-newsed reindeer, had some very timely news

CROOKS vs. SICKOS (Or, “What's going on with our politicians and oligarchs?”)

❧ Elon Musk just tried to shut down the government right before the holidays. The deadline for funding the government will hit at 12:01 AM on Saturday. This evening the House passed a continuing resolution to fund the government for three months, but if crisis has been prevented, it's only barely. 

Earlier in the week, a bipartisan funding bill appeared poised to pass easily: It included critical funding for disaster relief in hurricane-struck areas, aid for farmers, and money to replace the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. It also included some very useful riders, including reining in the parasitic pharmacy benefit managers who drive up healthcare costs and some narrow curbs on junk fees. (The American Prospect has some good coverage of how those changes would have worked.) 

Things appeared to be going fine until Elon Musk decided to unceremoniously ram a Cybertruck into the proceedings. In a test of how much influence his $250 million in pro-Trump spending bought, he unleashed a flurry of tweets threatening to fund primary challengers for any Republican who voted for the bill and called for nothing to pass until Trump is sworn in on January 20. Musk used his bully pulpit to spread blatantly false information about the bill. Like a loyal dog, Donald Trump immediately followed Musk in torching the bill, and former Republican supporters jumped ship.

Trump and Musk then endorsed a version of the bill that excluded $190 million for childhood cancer research under the “Give Kids a Chance” program. It also got rid of an amendment that would have banned deepfake porn, funding for research on premature labor and Down syndrome, and money that would have treated sickle cell disease, breast cancer, and cervical cancer. The Musk-Trump-backed bill was voted down last night with the help of hardline Freedom Caucus Republicans who objected to its kicking of the debt ceiling to 2027 (one Trump demand that actually would have been good.) But with mere hours before the government is set to shut down, the House passed a bill that got rid of the debt ceiling concession, which is now on its way to the Senate.

So while the worst-case scenario appears to have been averted, we should all be outraged that the world's richest man had the ability to so effortlessly hijack the government's function to serve his own whims. “Your elected representatives have heard you and now the terrible bill is dead,” Musk trumpeted on Twitter after killing the bipartisan bill. “The voice of the people has triumphed!” But that couldn’t be further from what really happened. He successfully got the government to strip away funding dedicated to improving public health for everyone. And if he'd gotten his way entirely and blocked a bill from passing until Trump took office, millions of federal employees would be spending the holidays without paychecks and people in disaster areas would be without hurricane aid. This was not a triumph of “the people.” It was a triumph of one unelected man using his obscene wealth to run roughshod over the people’s chosen representatives to serve his own ego and interests.

Some Democrats have begun referring to Elon as “President Musk” in the apparent hope of getting under Trump’s skin. (Tweet from Rep. Jasmine Crockett via Newsweek)

❧ Speaking of Musk’s interests, one area that was not cut at all during this budget showdown was the Defense Department. Eighty-five senators voted to increase its funding to $895 billion next year without any pushback from the man who’s supposed to be in charge of “government efficiency.” There’s no better poster child for waste and inefficiency than the Pentagon, which has failed its last seven audits. Musk has made some noises about cutting waste from the defense budget (an area where Bernie Sanders and some other progressives have attempted to find common ground). But it’s not hard to guess why he was not willing to pick a fight with Congress to hold up the NDAA, but was willing to do so for other spending. Defense is the cabinet department that provides by far the greatest amount of funding to SpaceX, with $3.6 billion in subsidies to Musk’s company over the past decade. He’s more than willing to put ordinary Americans through “temporary hardship” at the altar of fighting government waste by cutting entitlements and subsidies they rely on. But even a modest trim to his own bottom line is beyond consideration.

❧ Not only does this bill contain yet another boost to the military budget, it contains multiple other awful riders. Joe Biden (who, we must remind you, is still the president despite being essentially AWOL during these negotiations) appears ready to sign it anyway:

• First, the NDAA contained the first piece of federal anti-LGBTQ legislation since the 1990s: It bans the military health insurance policy TRICARE from covering gender-affirming care for children—a policy the Intercept says “could deprive thousands of trans children of life-saving care.” 
  
  
• Second, the NDAA contains a provision that would bar the Pentagon from referencing death tolls from the war in Gaza collected by the Gaza Health Ministry. Independent observers and even Israel themselves have relied on those counts, finding them to be accurate—If anything, they are likely a huge undercount. So in addition to providing billions more dollars to the Israeli military that is carrying out mass slaughter in Gaza, the Pentagon will now be forced to deny that this mass slaughter is even taking place.

❧ House Democrats have roundly rejected Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s bid to become the ranking member on the Oversight Committee. The role would have made AOC a key figure in congressional Democrats’ opposition to the incoming Trump administration, as the House Oversight Committee has wide-reaching authority to investigate alleged government wrongdoing. AOC made significant compromises to place herself at its head, reportedly promising she would no longer support primary challenges against incumbent Democrats—which, of course, is how she entered Congress in the first place—if she got the coveted appointment.

But all her maneuvering was for nothing, as Nancy Pelosi lobbied to make sure the role went to 74-year-old Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA) instead. Connolly is actively battling esophageal cancer, so it seems unlikely he’ll be the most effective possible leader under the circumstances. But for the Democratic establishment, apparently, that’s preferable to allowing younger, more left-wing officials to move up in power and seniority. Maybe now that AOC’s strategy of compromise and conciliation has gotten her precisely nothing, she’ll try a more combative stance again? 

PAST AFFAIRS

In 2023, Lily Sanchez chronicled “How AOC Went From Influencer to Influenced”

❧ ICE just deported two newborn children who are American citizens, along with their mother, a Mexican immigrant who is married to a U.S. citizen living in Texas. Christina Salazar, the 23-year-old mother, missed her immigration hearing in October when she suddenly went into labor and gave birth to her two twins. After being told to meet with immigration officials to reschedule the meeting last week, Salazar and her four children were arrested. (Two of them were awaiting an immigration hearing along with Salazar, while the two newborn twins were born in the U.S. and therefore American citizens.) They were all deported to Mexico, where “they had no contacts and no way of getting money,” the Guardian reports. 

❧ James Zogby has launched a progressive reform campaign for the Democratic National Committee vice chair. Zogby isn’t exactly a household name, but he’s been a member of the DNC for years; he’s also the president of the Arab American Institute, and an advocate for Palestinian human rights. Now, he says the DNC has major “structural and institutional problems,” and is trying to get into its leadership to sort them out. In an editorial for the Nation, he lists “budget transparency and accountability” and “the need to take ‘dark money’ out of our primaries” as two of his highest priorities, along with a desire to “strengthen state parties” which he feels have been neglected. That all sounds good, and Zogby has already been endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders, along with Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Ro Khanna. If nothing else, the Democratic Party is in severe need of reform, so any attempt is welcome! (Common Dreams)

AROUND THE STATES

❧ Amazon workers have gone on strike across the country. In the last briefing, we told you how delivery drivers organized under the Teamsters were getting fed up with Amazon’s refusal to negotiate over pay, scheduling, and safety conditions, along with the company’s notorious union-busting tactics. Well, now they’ve gone on strike. On Thursday morning, drivers at seven different facilities—one in New York City, one in Atlanta, one in San Francisco, one in Skokie, Illinois, and three across southern California—walked off the job and started picket lines, throwing a huge wrench into the company’s operations in the middle of the holiday season. Teamsters across the country have also started picket lines at hundreds of other Amazon facilities, and are inviting the workers there to join them. “If your package is delayed during the holidays,” says union president Sean O’Brien, “you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed.” (The Guardian)

(Image: Amazon Teamsters via Twitter)

❧ Republicans in South Carolina have once again introduced a bill to execute women who have abortions. Called the “South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act,” the bill defines any fetus or embryo at any stage of pregnancy as a legal “person,” and therefore defines all abortions as “homicide.”  It’s an explicitly religious law, referring to human life as “created in the image of God,” and because South Carolina has the death penalty, it means that in theory a woman convicted of ending a pregnancy could be executed for doing so. This legislation was already shot down once before in 2023, and for good reason; if passed, it would be one of the most extreme and barbaric anti-abortion laws anywhere in the world. Let’s hope South Carolina’s legislature has the good sense to say “no” again. (Truthout)

❧ California has become the first state to declare a bird flu emergency, as more than 600 dairy farms have experienced outbreaks in the state and there have been 34 cases in humans since March. Most cases have been mild and involved exposure to infected cows. Bird flu has also been detected in raw milk products, which California recently recalled. (What a time for the Trump administration to have the CEO of a raw milk company, Mark McAfee, helping to guide public health policy!)

The CDC says that there has yet to be a case of human-to-human transmission of bird flu, which is good news. However, they also reported the first case in the country that left a patient, a Louisiana man, in critical condition. Hopefully, this is not a sign of things to come. But we know that bird flu can be catastrophic: Of the nearly 1,000 cases recorded in humans worldwide since 2003, nearly half have resulted in death. (Politico)

Chart: Statista

Data: World Health Organization

❧ In a shred of good news, Montana’s Supreme Court has ruled that young people have the constitutional right to a clean environment. Last year, 16 young plaintiffs sued the state over a horrendous law that banned the state from considering the impact of carbon emissions when approving new fossil fuel projects. By a 6 to 1 ruling, Montana’s highest court ruled that the “right to a clean and healthful environment and environmental life support system,” which is explicitly guaranteed in the constitution, “includes a stable climate system.” The ruling does not require the state to take any proactive steps to fight climate change, but it is nevertheless a huge win, as it establishes the right of plaintiffs to sue the government if fossil fuel projects do not take carbon emissions into account. (Truthout)

Young plaintiffs pose outside the courthouse after the first day of hearings in 2023.

(Photo: Thom Bridge / Independent Record)

AROUND THE WORLD

❧ On the same day that the U.S. Congress approved yet another increase in military aid to Israel, Haaretz published a stomach-churning investigation, revealing wanton violence by the Israeli military in the Netzarim corridor in Gaza. IDF soldiers told the paper that the military operates the 7-km wide area—which separates the north from the rest of Gaza—as a “kill zone,” where “anyone who enters is shot.” One soldier attested:

“We're killing civilians there who are then counted as terrorists…The IDF spokesperson's announcements about casualty numbers have turned this into a competition between units. If Division 99 kills 150 [people], the next unit aims for 200."

Another senior reserve commander described how the military’s actions in the region have been whitewashed by war propaganda:

“Calling ourselves the world's most moral army absolves soldiers who know exactly what we're doing… It means ignoring that for over a year, we've operated in a lawless space where human life holds no value. Yes, we commanders and combatants are participating in the atrocity unfolding in Gaza. Now everyone must face this reality.”

The directive to kill without regard for human life comes from the top. Soldiers described Brigadier General Yehuda Vach, the commander of the IDF’s military training school, as someone who instilled the “operational doctrine” that “everyone's a terrorist.” Other soldiers described being praised by their commanders for killing civilians: 

“One time, guards spotted someone approaching from the south. We responded as if it was a large militant raid. We took positions and just opened fire. I'm talking about dozens of bullets, maybe more. For about a minute or two, we just kept shooting at the body. People around me were shooting and laughing… He was just a boy, maybe 16. That evening, our battalion commander congratulated us for killing a terrorist, saying he hoped we'd kill ten more tomorrow… When someone pointed out he was unarmed and looked like a civilian, everyone shouted him down. The commander said: 'Anyone crossing the line is a terrorist, no exceptions, no civilians. Everyone's a terrorist.'”

Two weeks ago, Middle East Eye published this video of Palestinian homes being demolished to expand the Netzarim Corridor.

❧ The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is suing Apple. Lawyers for the Congolese state have filed criminal complaints against the tech giant in both France and Belgium, alleging that it knowingly uses “blood minerals” in its electronics. Specifically, they say Apple has bought “tin, tantalum, and tungsten” from conflict zones in the DRC, enriched “militias and terrorist groups” in the process, and perpetuated “forced child labour and environmental devastation” across the country. It’ll now be up to the Belgian and French courts to examine the evidence and decide how to proceed—but as harrowing stories of the conditions miners in the Congo work under continue to come out, it’s high time Apple and companies like it started to face consequences. (BBC) 

❧ Chile’s Helmeted Water Toad, a species so old that it once lived alongside the dinosaurs, is at risk of extinction. One of the largest frog species on the planet, sometimes reaching a foot in length, they are sometimes called “living fossils,” having undergone little anatomical change for millions of years. But their population has dropped by 30 percent since 1990 as the climate has warmed and their habitats have been broken up by urbanization and polluted by human waste. Conservationists have called for habitat restoration and pollution control to help reverse the trend. (Interstellar News)

He would not look out of place next to a T-Rex.

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

❧ The French colony of Mayotte, a small archipelago off the eastern coast of Africa, was hit by a massive cyclone last week. The island, already the poorest French overseas department, is now left in ruins, with hundreds or possibly thousands of people dead and many people without clean drinking water and phone service more than a week later. French President Emmanuel Macron toured the wreckage this week and was met with a torrent of boos from anguished islanders, who chanted “We want water!” Macron denied any responsibility for the slow and inadequate aid response, instead suggesting the people of Mayotte, three-quarters of whom live below the poverty line, were ungrateful, saying, “You are happy to be in France. Because if it wasn’t France, I tell you, you would be 10,000 times deeper in shit.” (Reuters)

Even 5,000 miles away from the mainland, people hate this guy.

(Video: News.com.au)

❧ The Turkish government says it does not have a ceasefire agreement with Kurdish militias in northern Syria, refuting a claim by the U.S. State Department that such a deal had been reached. The comments have contributed to growing fears that Turkey may soon launch an assault on the Kurdish stronghold city of Kobane, part of the revolutionary autonomous region known as Rojava, which Turkey views as a terrorist movement. Already, Balkan Insight reports that two Kurdish journalists have been killed in a Turkish drone strike on Thursday. This is a rapidly-changing situation, but it’s critical that bloodshed be prevented. (Al Jazeera)

❧ The Egyptian government had a run-in with MrBeast after he claimed to have rented out the pyramids for a YouTube video. “We got all three of the pyramids of Egypt for 100 hours,” the billionaire YouTuber said on a podcast, “I want to just find secrets and go through all the rooms and the tombs and that kind of stuff.” The Egyptian government has denied that it ever gave permission for MrBeast to “rent” the pyramids, and says they were still open to other visitors during the time MrBeast was wandering around. Seeing that he’s most famous for videos where he pays people to bury themselves alive or sit in a bathtub full of snakes, or fills rooms with Legos or green slime, it’s understandable that the Egyptian government was a bit unsure whether he’d be entirely respectful to the site. They reassured the public that he was accompanied by a team of archaeologists to keep him in line. (Egyptian Gazette)

Presumably, this means we won’t see any videos like this going up online.

PAST AFFAIRS

Last year, Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson wrote about “The Beast Within Capitalism”:

“Much about these videos screams “Neoliberal Hellscape” to me: a world where value is measured in dollars and a man is able to be entertaining in part because if you have enough dollars, you can just throw them at people and others will be compelled to watch.” 

REINDEER FACT OF THE WEEK

Reindeer in Finland have glowing antlers! 

As you might expect, this isn’t exactly a natural phenomenon. Rather, it’s part of a groundbreaking Finnish road safety campaign. Over there, accidents involving cars and reindeer are a big problem, killing an estimated 4,000 deer every year and causing $18 million in damages to vehicles.

So the Finns came up with a solution: get hold of as many reindeer as possible, spray their horns with luminescent paint, and release them again with a built-in safety beacon. The organizers say it’s “like giving an animal a reflective vest,” and hope it’ll save both deer and human lives.

Randolph, with your horns so bright, you'll avoid my car tonight.

(Photos: Telegrafi)

Writing and research by Stephen Prager and Alex Skopic. Editing and additional material by Nathan J. Robinson and Lily Sánchez. Header graphic by Cali Traina Blume. This news briefing is a product of Current Affairs Magazine. Subscribe to our gorgeous and informative print edition here, and our delightful podcast here.

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