AM Quickie

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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Israeli government officials vowed to continue their military attacks on Gaza as mob violence consumed the streets. As international leaders call for peace, the United States is sending a special envoy, for what it’s worth.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is trying to flip the script on free trade deals. It’s invoked a special provision to protect worker rights at a General Motors factory in Mexico.

And lastly, Bernie Sanders is taking on the biggest wasters of taxpayer money in the country: US military contractors. And just to drive the message home, he’s quoting a Republican president while doing it.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Here’s an ominous phrase, if there ever was one. The Guardian reports that Israel will not stop its military operation in Gaza until it achieves what the country’s defense minister called, "complete quiet.". Airstrikes and rocket fire continued throughout the day yesterday. Sirens sounded every few minutes in communities close to the border. The Israeli military said it had killed four senior Hamas commanders and a dozen more Hamas operatives in a series of strikes. Hamas’s armed wing later confirmed the death of a senior commander and a number of fighters. After the Israeli military operation, Hamas fired fifty rockets towards Ashdod, a city close to the Gaza border. A spokesperson for the Israeli army said he expected the fighting to intensify. Gaza’s death toll has risen to fifty three, including fourteen children. More than three hundred people have been wounded. Six Israeli civilians, including two children, have been killed by rocket fire and dozens wounded.

According to Al-Jazeera, violence between Palestinian citizens of Israel and Israeli Jews has resumed. In Bat Yam, a Tel Aviv suburb, a group of black-clad Israelis smashed the windows of an Arab-owned ice cream shop. Israeli ultranationalists could be seen chanting Death to Arabs! on live television.

Speaking to reporters, President Joe Biden said he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday. Biden said he hopes and expects the violence to end soon, but also said Israel has a right to defend itself. Which means the violence will continue, as promised.

US Acts On Worker Rights In Mexico

Can trade agreements be used for good instead of mere greed? The Washington Post reports that, in the first action of its kind, the Biden administration has formally asked the Mexican government to investigate reports of serious violations of worker rights at a General Motors plant in central Mexico. The move marks the first use of an innovative labor rights provision in the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, which took effect last year. It also represents the first time the US government has acted on its own to raise labor concerns under any trade agreement, though Washington has previously done so in response to complaints lodged by unions. Yesterday’s action showcased the administration’s aim to deliver a worker-centered trade policy, according to US Trade Representative Katherine Tai. At the issue is whether workers at the GM facility, which exports pickup trucks to the United States, are being denied their right to organize and to bargain collectively.

The Post reports that under a 2019 Mexican labor law, workers must vote to reaffirm or reject existing contracts negotiated by company-controlled unions. Voting at the Silao plant began last month. But amid reports that the company-controlled union was tampering with ballots, the Mexican government intervened to halt the vote. The Labor Ministry now will organize a second vote without the union’s direct involvement. If the review finds that workers’ rights have been violated, Mexico and the US will discuss potential remedies. Here’s a suggestion: let the workers run the factory. Surely they know it best.

Sanders Lambastes Pentagon Contractors

This tale of a wholesome bipartisan effort to exercise fiscal responsibility comes from the Washington Post. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders says he will use his powerful new position atop the Senate Budget Committee to exercise tougher oversight over the United States’ national security establishment, including defense contracts. In an interview with the Post, Sanders criticized the Pentagon for failing to keep track of billions of dollars in taxpayer funds. Citing former president Dwight Eisenhower’s warnings about the military industrial

complex, he excoriated defense agencies over hundreds of billions of dollars in cost overruns on programs. And he said defense conglomerates, as taxpayer-funded entities, should face the same standard of accountability as their government counterparts. Sanders said, "We have a very powerful military industrial complex, and I don’t think they get the scrutiny that they deserve."

In letters signed jointly with Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and obtained by the Post, Sanders asked executives from the top three defense contractors – Lockheed, Boeing and Raytheon – to attend a budget hearing yesterday focused on waste, fraud and abuse in the defense sector. All three companies declined to make their executives available. Lockheed Martin got $35.2 billion from taxpayers last year. That’s more than many federal agencies. Sanders has pointed to the soaring salaries of executives at defense firms and posited that spending far surpasses what the US needs to defend itself. Is it too much to ask these war profiteers to justify their existence before Congress? Apparently so!

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

According to the Associated Press, US health advisers endorsed use of Pfizer’s Covid- 19 vaccine in kids as young as twelve yesterday. The American Academy of Pediatrics also urged that kids twelve and older get the Pfizer vaccine – and agreed with federal advisers that it’s fine to give more than one vaccine at the same time. Double ’em up, why not?

CBS News reports that a judge in the Derek Chauvin case has found aggravating factors exist that would allow for a longer sentence than Minnesota sentencing guidelines suggest. In this case, that means longer than ten years. The fired officer will face sentencing next month for the murder of George Floyd. One aggravating factor: Chauvin acted with particular cruelty. We know, we saw.

The New York Times reports that, in a display of loyalty to Donald Trump, Republicans moved to purge Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming from House leadership yesterday. The action came during a raucous closed-door meeting that lasted just fifteen minutes. Cheney made a defiant final speech, warning that Republicans would follow Trump to their destruction. She got booed.

The AP reports that Americans can now apply for $50 off their monthly internet bill as part of an emergency government program to keep people connected. The $3.2 billion program is part of the $900 billion December pandemic-relief package. See Get Emergency Broadband Dot Org to find out if you qualify. You can get the discount even if you owe your cable company money. Win!

AM QUICKIE - MAY 13, 2021

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn