17 reader poll, arabs compromise with israelis

the weekly rundown

loyal readers, it’s hard to believe that we’ve been putting out weekly issues for four months now! we want to hear from you (#notdesperate) in our first reader poll! it’s quick, cute, and will really help us out. please tell us how we’re doing in three rapid-fire questions today.

big idea: arabs and israelis...compromising?

1. it looks like Benjamin Netanyahu is out as israeli PM, assuming he doesn’t pull any last minute shenanigans this week. as we discussed in issue 14, the recent gaza war was caused in large part by him trying to keep power.
2. what’s fascinating is how Netanyahu will be forced out. eight parties ranging from ultranationalist/racist to socialist/hippie are forming a coalition with no goal other than to kick Netanyahu out. this will be the first time in israeli history that the palestinian arab party will be included in the governing coalition.
3. let’s just make this clear - the arabs are joining forces with a party which wants to annex the west bank and refuses to recognize a palestinian state. to put that in ‘murican terms, it would be as if Bernie and Mitch got together to force He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named out, only to replace him with...Ted Cruz.
4. is that worth the compromise? would our politicians even have the courage to compromise? readers can decide for themselves, but we’d like to applaud the palestinians for using what little power they have in israel to give the boot to a guy who has systematically destroyed any chance of a two-state solution while creating an apartheid state within israel.

story to watch: killer robots are here

1. a UN report of violence in libya last year appears to document the first use of killer robots, as if 2020 could’ve gotten any worse. the UN thinks a fully autonomous turkish drone destroyed a russian tank in libya, possibly also killing a rebel. please give us a second while we go make sure our bunker is stocked with enough toilet paper to last WWIII.
2. while human-operated drones have been around for decades, some countries have been putting AI into them to remove the human element altogether. militaries release the drones into the wild, assuming its programming will find the appropriate targets. some are equipped with multiple missiles while others are just kamikaze, blowing up on impact.
3. turkey, china, the US, and israel are leaders in the field, exporting billions of dollars worth of drones (both the human-operated and killer robot variety) in recent years. turkey and china got into the game when we refused to export our weapons to them, so they’ve cornered the low-end of the market. the leading turkish drone manufacturer (which built the one cited in the UN report) uses off-the-shelf tech available to consumers. next up - baklava delivery by drone.

this week’s image: when in oklahoma

• (The Guardian) a horse decides he’s part of a bike club during tulsa’s parade commemorating the race massacre 100 years ago

this week’s number: 559k jobs added in may

1. the latest jobs report indicated that 559,000 jobs were added in may, a solidly meh month. while that’s double the number compared to april, it’s half the number some economists were expecting as covid cases continue to dwindle. the growing consensus is that the economy won’t return to ‘normal’ until the fall, when children go back to school and adults go back to pretending to work.
2. while there are more than 9 million americans unemployed at the moment (a 5.8% unemployment rate), there are also 8 million open jobs across the country. it seems that workers are demanding better pay, working conditions, benefits, and flexibility than before covid. some are even starting their own businesses to work exactly how they want, when they want. hey, maybe we could start making some money off of this newsletter thing...

what we’re watching: “Cruella”

1. yeah, yeah, we know “Cruella” dropped on Disney+ last friday, but we finally got around to watching it this week - and...well, asides from emma stone & emma thompson giving us the heebie-jeebies with their evil stares, there’s not a ton to love here. if you’re into fashion, you’d like the costumes and set designs, but you’re probably also not one of our readers…
2. but our main problem is the movie makes cruella (the lady who wanted to skin dogs in the 1996 film) less villain and more victim. someone tell disney that antiheroes don’t work well in kids’ movies.

and, in case you missed it:

• Joe reached an agreement with some nations on a global corporate minimum tax, negotiations we discussed in issue 9
• we’re used to eating GMO plants, but the first GMO protein (fast-growing, sterile salmon) was delivered to restaurants this week
• a fisherman saved a squirrel from a school of bass. apparently the fish tried to spawn with the squirrel, so this incident obviously took place in canada.

the weekly rundown is produced by Yunus, Faisal (@faisalc93), and Ahmed (@ahmedhcheema). learn more about us and email us your comments and feedback!