Crooked Media - What A Day: The odds Michiganst us

- Attorney General Letita James (D-NY) trolling disgraced former president Trump by tweeting the amount of money he owes the state of New York after he was found liable for corporate fraud

Israel’s right-wing government finally put its postwar plans for the Palestinian territories on paper. 
 

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented his official “day after” plan for the Gaza Strip for the first time on Friday. The plan combines a range of long-held positions by the Israeli government, and underscores Netanyahu’s opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state. The plan outlines the Netanyahu government’s intention to keep security control over Palestinian territories and make their reconstruction contingent on demilitarization. 
   

• Specifically, the plan proposes that Israel would have security control over all land west of Jordan, including the occupied West Bank and Gaza, while handing the local civilian administration to Gazans without links to Hamas. The White House stated back in November that it doesn’t believe Israeli forces should reoccupy Gaza—which has been under Israeli blockade since 2007—but the U.S. did not immediately issue an explicit reaction to Netanyahu’s proposal.
   

• The Biden administration did, however, respond to the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank on Friday, calling it inconsistent with international law. The announcement reversed the position staked out by the Trump Administration, and marks a return to U.S. policy norms. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was “disappointed” in Israel for announcing plans for building new settlements in the occupied West Bank, and that such plans are counterproductive to reaching a lasting peace with Palestinians. “Our administration maintains a firm opposition to settlement expansion, and in our judgment this only weakens, doesn't strengthen, Israel's security," Blinken said. Most countries consider the settlements a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and United Nations Security Council resolutions.

As the death toll in Gaza nears 30,000, according to Gaza health authorities, the Biden administration’s policy of unwavering support and aid to Israel could spell major trouble for him in November. 
 

• Following the United States veto of another United Nations ceasefire resolution, president Biden is facing a new wave of criticism and pressure. The pivotal swing state of Michigan is home to a large population of Arab Americans who were crucial to helping Biden eke out a win in the state in 2020 by just 154,000 votes. Now the Great Lake State is in jeopardy as the number of Democrats calling for Biden to support a ceasefire is growing. 
   

• This week, Democratic Mayor Abdullah Hammoud of Dearborn, MI, a majority Arab American city, published an op-ed in the New York Times about the “betrayal” felt by his constituents. He wrote: “In the past three federal elections, Arab American voters in Michigan have become a crucial and dependable voting bloc for the Democratic Party, and we were part of the wave that delivered for Joe Biden four years ago. But this fact seems long forgotten by our candidate as he calls for our votes once more while at the same time selling the very bombs that Benjamin Netanyahu’s military is dropping on our family and friends.”

The depths of discontent from young voters and Arab American voters could cost Biden the election in 2024. A Democratic strategist in Michigan who supports president Biden told Politico the party is “in trouble” because “every day, as violence in Gaza continues, getting those voters back becomes more of a challenge for Biden.”

Tomorrow marks the season finale of Crooked's newest series, Dissident at the Doorstep. This podcast is a wild ride following the true story of how one of China’s most prominent human rights activists escapes to the US, only to resurface as an avid MAGA supporter a few years later. Don't miss the final episode tomorrow - available wherever you get your podcasts!

In the face of (entirely earned) backlash to the Alabama State Supreme court’s ruling last week that frozen embryos must have the same rights as children—effectively ending in vitro fertilization in the state—the national Republican Party apparatus is scrambling to do some damage control. Disgraced former president Donald Trump and several GOP candidates in key Senate races this November rushed to voice their support for IVF on Friday. Republicans have had a hard time with voters since the Dobbs decision overturned the federal right to an abortion in 2022, and this latest extremist judicial decision isn’t helping! In a Friday memo from National Republican Senatorial Committee Executive Director Jason Thielman obtained by The Washington Post, GOP Senate Candidates were urged to “align with the public’s overwhelming support of IVF and fertility treatments.” Democrats have signaled that they plan to use the Alabama ruling as part of their pivotal election year messaging. The state court’s decision is so wildly unpopular, even with conservative Christian voters, that Alabama lawmakers are considering legislation that would protect IVF after many clinics in the state halted fertility treatments in the wake of the ruling, and a major embryo shipping company announced it was suspending doing business there.

The United States imposed major sanctions against Russia on Friday to mark two years since the country invaded Ukraine and in retaliation for the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. 

Florida surgeon general Joseph Ladapo—a Gov. DeSantis (R-FL)-appointee who has inexplicably maintained his medical license—did not urge parents in the Sunshine State to vaccinate their children or keep unvaccinated students home from school amidst a measles outbreak in the Fort Lauderdale area. Ladapo said the state health department “is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance.” Oh good! Giving parents precedence over infectious disease specialists! That’s always worked out really well!

Former longtime NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre was found liable on Friday in a lawsuit centered on the org’s reckless spending. A New York State jury found that LaPierre misspent millions of dollars of NRA money on himself in his decades of leadership, and ordered him to pay $4.35 million in restitution to the group. Another win for state Attorney General Letitia James (D-NY). 

South Carolina holds its GOP presidential primary vote on Saturday, with results expected after 7 p.m. Trump is expected to trounce his rival and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in her home state.
 

The CEO of Vice Media sent a memo to the company’s staff on Thursday that it plans to lay off several hundred employees and no longer publish material on Vice.com. Vice filed for bankruptcy last year before being sold for $350 million to a private equity group. Another beautiful day in the new media landscape!!

Far-right conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday in a panel hosted by Steve Bannon and said that his goal is to “overthrow” democracy. He promised to achieve those ends despite the fact that “...we didn’t get all the way there on January 6.” Cool! Thanks for clearing that up!

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Popular asthma medication Xolair became the first drug approved by the FDA to reduce adverse reactions caused by food allergies. Director of the pediatric allergy decision at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center said that the development will be “life-changing.”