Where does Gaza aid delivery go from here? 🕵🏼♀️
Also: Abortion at stake in Florida, therapy for tax stress, microdosing, and Lizzo's confusing "quitting" post
The killing this week of seven workers from World Central Kitchen in Gaza brings into clear focus the dangers humanitarian groups face delivering aid in conflict zones.
If you aren’t familiar with World Central Kitchen, you can read here about their courageous work partnering with local chefs and restaurants to feed civilians in disaster and conflict areas. To date the group, founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, has provided more than 43 million meals to Palestinians in Gaza on the brink of starvation. The group also fed Israeli hostage families in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks and families displaced by Hezbollah fighting, serving 1.75 million hot meals across Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attributed the attack to the “unfortunate” realities of war. Israeli officers believed there was a Hamas terrorist inside one of the cars. The reality is that WCK's convoy had clear branding, coordinated its movements with the Israel Defense Forces, and was traveling in a “deconflicted” zone when it was hit at three separate locations on a road known to be used by aid groups.
The tragedy is likely to have a chilling effect on humanitarian aid delivery. WCK, one of the largest providers of food aid to Gaza, has suspended its operations and other organizations have followed suit, saying it is too dangerous in Gaza to operate.
It has also focused fresh attention to the difficult process of getting aid inside Gaza, which is full of logistical and political challenges and a disorganized approach that fails to address the dire needs of the population.
President Biden has criticized Israel’s failure to protect aid workers, saying he was “heartbroken and outraged” by the deaths. He said the US would do everything possible to get more aid into Gaza.
The US has a long history of delivering humanitarian aid to disaster areas, such as the 2021 earthquake in Haiti.
Zivvy founder Elise Labott spoke with numerous officials from aid groups about how the US could mobilize its expertise, resources and international influence to help establish a “humanitarian corridor” in Gaza to allow the safe free flow of aid.
Read more on Cosmopolitics by Elise
Dig deeper:
➤ How José Andrés and his corps of cooks became leaders in disaster aid (NY Times)
➤ Israel faces mounting outrage from allies after killing World Central Kitchen aid workers (POLITICO)
➤ Will Iran take revenge on Israel for the strike on the Iranian embassy compound in Syria? (NYTimes)
🗳️ Florida's abortion fight is headed to voters after court allows for a 6-week ban
The Florida Supreme Court's recent decision to permit a vote on abortion rights this November has injected a sense of optimism among Democrats about their prospects in a state won by Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020.
This ruling comes alongside another decision that enacts a near-total abortion ban after six weeks starting May 1, potentially setting up a pivotal battle for reproductive rights, not just within Florida but across the Southeastern US.
This issue is expected to galvanize Democratic voters, especially in states like New York and Maryland where abortion rights are already on the ballot, and potentially in swing states such as Arizona.
Additionally, measures in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania could introduce constitutional amendments regarding abortion rights, pending signature collection and legislative approval. (Washington Post)
This great map by POLITICO looks at states where abortion could be on the ballot.
Dig Deeper:
➤ Florida warn Biden against politicizing abortion ballot effort because
➤ Republican voters will be crucial to passing the abortion measure in the conservative-leaning state. (POLITICO)
🌎 Around the world
Mass casualties in Taiwan’s largest earthquake in 25 years
Wednesday’s 7.4 magnitude quake killed at least nine people and injured more than 1000, as rescuers search for more than 140 people still trapped in the rubble. More than 70 workers are believed to be trapped in two rock quarries. (Reuters)
🤔 FACT CHECK:
➤ Old photo of tilting quake-hit building falsely linked to 2024 earthquake (AFP)
➤ Earthquake In Taiwan: Viral video of building collapse is from Turkey (Newschecker)
🗳️ Politics
📱 How TikTok is turning you into a lobbyist
If you opened the app in recent weeks, TikTok may have urged you to contact Congress to oppose proposed legislation that could lead to a TikTok ban in the US. (Washington Post)
📱 I spent 24 hours on Trump's Truth Social so you don't have to. No wonder it's tanking
Twenty-four hours of scrolling through posts from "Truthsayers" on the two-year-old platform explained why the site is tanking. In short, partisan echo chambers are stale, musty spaces that lack the sort of oppositional views needed to make social media tick. (Yahoo)
➤ See also: Traders are betting millions that Trump Media will tumble (NYTimes)
💰 Money
🧾 One in four Gen Zers say they’ll need a therapist to deal with tax filing stress—here’s the first step to take to make it easier.
Taxes aren’t enjoyable for people of any age, but they can be particularly stressful for younger generations, many of whom may have never filed before. (via CNBC)
📱 Broke Gen Zers are skipping first dates and meeting each other virtually instead
Gen Zers are opting to meet someone over Zoom or FaceTime for convenience and flexibility. (Business Insider)
📉 The ‘growing crisis of the young American male’ could send home prices falling for years or even decades, says the ‘Oracle of Wall Street’
Meredith Whitney, the woman who successfully predicted the financial crisis, says home prices are likely to fall substantially, and the reasons have to do with habits picked up by young guys. (Yahoo)
🛠️ How Gen Z is becoming the ‘toolbelt generation’
More young workers are going into trades as disenchantment with the college track continues, and rising pay and new technologies shine up plumbing and electrical jobs. (WSJ)
⚕️Health and wellness
🍄 Why are so many young people taking magic mushrooms?
Hallucinogen use among Gen Z has spiked since the pandemic and is showing no signs of slowing down. (Dazed)
🎵 How therapy-speak ‘processed’ its way into pop-music
Trauma, co-dependency and self-soothing are now the stuff of pop lyrics. Are artists “doing the work” – or is it an easy way to sell vague enlightenment and personal growth? (GQ)
⚕️ ‘I’m 28. And I’m Scheduled to Die in May.’
Some right-to-die activists want everyone to have access to euthanasia—even young people with mental illness. Are they also making suicide contagious? (The Free Press)
👩💻 Technology
📱 Snapchat’s Friend-Ranking Feature Adds to Teen Anxiety
Drama, hurt feelings and heartbreak can result when teens see where they are in friends’ Snapchat+ solar systems. (WSJ)
📱 With TikTok creator program, AI-sped misinformation pays
The crazier the video, the higher the engagement — and now, more engagement directly translates to more dollars. (Axios)
📱 Gen Z brains are wired for ‘second screening’
We can’t enjoy films, gigs or shows without our phones: now writers and artists are adapting to it. (The Times)
📱 Billie Eilish against the machine
Ellish joined more than 200 artists, songwriters and producers in signing an open letter to tech companies and AI developers, issued by the Artist Rights Alliance, calling irresponsible artificial intelligence practices an "assault on human creativity" that "must be stopped." (Billboard)
⭐ Gen Z in the Spotlight
🖋 Amanda Gorman Is Using Poetry to Create Social Change
After stealing the show at President Biden’s 2021 inauguration, the now 26-year-old is forging an identity beyond her splashy debut. (Elle)
🎓 College Corner
🏫 UT Austin lays off around 60 staffers to comply with Texas DEI ban
UT Austin has eliminated multiple staff positions previously focused on diversity, equity and inclusion in the latest effort to comply with Texas' anti-DEI law. (KUT)
➤ See also: DEI programs in universities are being cut across the country. What does this mean for higher education? (CNN, from June 2023)
🍿 Entertainment and Culture
🎸 The angst, the sensitivity… and the songs: how Gen Z got hooked on Nirvana
For a new generation of fans and musicians, the 90s grunge band – and in particular their frontman Kurt Cobain, who died 30 years ago next month – have provided not only inspiration but a blueprint for a more inclusive style of rock stardom. (The Guardian)
👱🏻♀️ Shakira’s sons hated ‘Barbie’ because it’s ‘emasculating,’ and she agrees:
“I like pop culture’ that empowers women ‘without robbing men of their possibility to be men,” Shakira told Allure magazine. (Variety)
➤ See also: The problem with Shakira's "Barbie" comments (Salon)
🎤 Lizzo says her ‘I quit’ post wasn’t about leaving music
The singer apparently realized that her cryptic “I quit” message on Instagram over the weekend left fans deeply confused. (The Daily Beast)
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To compare aid after an earthquake to aid during a war is misleading, ridiculous and driven by an anti-Israel agenda. Did anybody deliver aid or demanded it to Dresden in 1945 after the allied attack that levelled Dresden?