BY SARAH LAZARUS

& CROOKED MEDIA

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

-State Department official Brad Frede, in a rare “email that should’ve been a meeting”

COLD TURKEY

Turkey has invaded north-eastern Syria, in a disastrous development the world has been dreading since President Trump gave it the greenlight for no clear reason on Sunday. 

Here’s what happened:

• Turkish forces launched airstrikes, fired artillery across the border, and started a ground offensive as it began an operation to sweep Kurdish forces out of the area. Hundreds of Syrian civilians have fled the area, and at least two have been killed. It will almost certainly get much worse.
  
  
• American support for Kurdish forces had deterred Turkey from invading, and provided a main line of defense against ISIS fighters in the region. There seems to be no plan for making sure that ISIS fighters in the region who are currently incarcerated and guarded by Kurds remain that way.

Why is this happening?

• Trump paved the way for the operation on Sunday night after a phone call with Turkish President Recep Erdogan, in an abrupt, reckless reversal of U.S. policy. The Kurdish fighters have been U.S. allies in the fight against ISIS. Trump decided to abandon them without any process or planning, and against the advice of practically everyone.
  
  
• Trump tried to distance himself from the invasion today in a statement from the White House that called Turkey’s decision a “bad idea.” A bad idea he personally cleared a path for.
   
• Republicans criticized Trump’s decision to remove American troops from the border on Monday, and continued to condemn the Turkish assault today. As per usual, they have yet to take any concrete action to match their words.  

We’re now on the cusp of a humanitarian crisis, a war between two of America’s allies, and the revitalization of ISIS. It’s a no-win situation that’s found no support, except from certain authoritarian dictators that Trump always seems weirdly desperate to appease. We do know that this president has a history of making foreign policy decisions based on his own interests, not America’s national security interests, and have no reason to believe that this one is any different.

Facebook has refused a Biden campaign request to take down a Trump campaign ad that CNN wouldn’t air because it contains false accusations. The 30-second clip contains a disproved allegation that former Vice President Joe Biden offered Ukraine $1 billion to fire a prosecutor investigating a company tied to Biden’s son. 

Facebook says the ad doesn’t violate company policies, but Facebook also changed those policies just last week! Until then, Facebook had a rule prohibiting ads that contained "false and misleading" content.The new rule only "prohibits ads that include claims debunked by third-party fact checkers,” and “political figures” are exempt from even that rule. Also, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with President Trump at the White House two weeks ago, but that’s probably unrelated, right? The proliferation of disinformation on Facebook helped get Trump elected in 2016, and its rules allowing politicians to spread lies on the platform puts the company intentionally on Trump’s side again in 2020.

The good news is Zuckerberg will make a rare appearance on Capitol Hill this month, and will hopefully have to answer for his company’s toxic effect on U.S. democracy.

Announcing our October Crooked Mini: Me, My Self-Care, and I

Crooked Minis takes a step back from the chaotic breaking news to offer a new series every month that explores an issue or event that reflects cultural, political, or societal changes in America and need more than a 10-minute conversation and a split-second news cycle to unpack.

October's mini-series, hosted by Mala Muñoz and Diosa Femme, will explore the nuances and complexities of self-care, community care, healthy relationships, and the psychology behind it all.

Listen to episode one, out now →

Former Vice President Joe Biden called for President Trump to be impeached for the first time today, saying "Donald Trump has violated his oath of office, betrayed this nation and committed impeachable acts.” Biden also had this tax burn ready to go. Good burn, Joe.

In other impeachment news, Democrats suspect Trump sold Ukraine anti-tank missiles last year as part of another quid pro quo—in this case to encourage Ukraine to stop cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. If he pressured Ukraine to stop an investigation AND start an investigation, those just cancel out, yeah?

Two people were killed in an antisemitic attack in Germany that seems to have been motivated by far-right ideology. Witnesses saw the attacker try and fail to enter a synagogue in the city of Halle, where worshippers were gathered for Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. The shooter broadcast footage of the attack live online, just as the Christchurch, NZ, mosque shooter did earlier this year.

A new book details 43 new allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior against Donald Trump, including 26 instances of unwanted sexual contact. Journalists Barry Levine and Monique El-Faiz drew on over 100 interviews to write All The President’s Women, which about triples the height of the already towering mountain of credible sexual abuse allegations Trump already faced.

Clear some more space on your Repulsive Monsters bookshelf: Ronan Farrow’s new book Catch and Kill reports that Matt Lauer raped his coworker Brooke Nevils, a former NBC News employee who says Lauer raped her in his hotel room during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Her 2017 complaint led to Lauer’s firing, after which more women came forward to accuse Lauer of misconduct. 

Two men have been arrested, and a third suspect identified, for the murder of Joshua Brown. Police say Brown was shot during a drug deal, days after his testimony in the trial of former Dallas, TX, police officer Amber Guyger, and before he was set to testify in a civil suit against Dallas police.The timing raised suspicions that his killing was connected to his testimony, but police suggest it was a tragic coincidence.

California’s largest utility company has deliberately cut power to 500,000 customers as a precaution against wildfires, and 250,000 more will have their power cut soon. Strong winds and months of dry weather have created a high fire risk, and Pacific Gas & Electric hopes to avoid a repeat of recent California wildfires. Seems like we should be able to do better than a choice between deadly infernos and bringing back ice-boxes and candlelight? Climate change has made wildfires 500 percent larger since 1972, and if we keep failing to address it, things will only get worse.

You listening, senior Interior official William Perry Pendley? Pendley has repeatedly denied the existence of climate change, claimed there was never a hole in the ozone layer, and characterized undocumented immigrants as “a cancer.” Cool guy to put in charge of public lands!

Republican operatives hope to win the pivotal battleground state of Pennsylvania in 2020 by convincing the Amish to vote for Trump. Presumably this would entail printing out Facebook memes and dropping them from airplanes like wartime leaflets. 

In an interview with Vogue, Rihanna spoke about her decision to turn down the Super Bowl halftime show out of solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. “I couldn’t dare do that. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler.” I have been told I’m not allowed to copy-paste this whole article into the newsletter, so please click the link.

Trump has failed to reimburse cities across the country who have hosted his dumb rallies. At least 10 cities have complained that the campaign hasn’t reimbursed them for security assistance their local police and fire departments provided. In total, Trump owes these cities more than $840,000. It’s not a new practice, either: not paying his bills is Trump’s signature move. 

This is why Minneapolis, MN, Mayor Jacob Frey decided that the private company managing the venue of Trump’s rally tomorrow will be responsible for the security costs, and that company has leaned on the Trump campaign to pay up in advance. Trump, in turn, lashed out at Frey on Twitter, calling him a “lightweight mayor” who’s trying to “price out Free Speech,” which is exactly what you’d say if you had planned to pay your bills along.

Montgomery, AL, has elected an African-American mayor for the first time its 200-year history. Steven Reed was already the first black probate judge elected in his county, and was one of the first in Alabama to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. He’ll lead a city that was once known as the cradle of the Confederacy, and later played a critical role in the civil rights movement.

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