““I think we are making a mistake,” Vance wrote in the Signal chat, later published by The Atlantic. Vance argued that although Trump wanted to send a message with the strikes, “I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now.” He did say, though, that he was “willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself,” but went on to say “there is a strong argument for delaying this a month.”
Minutes later, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller shut down the conversation, writing, “As I heard it, the president was clear.””
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“The senior Republican official added: “It’s one thing to have a healthy interagency debate before a decision is made. It’s another to try and undo a Commander-in-Chief decision once Trump gives the execute order. This is the latter, and it’s very [John] Bolton-esque.”
Some Republicans believe Vance raising questions about an action the president had already agreed to amounted to a form of obstruction, the same senior Republican official said.”
“Previous research on teacher strikes in Argentina, Canada, and Belgium, where work stoppages lasted much longer, found large negative effects on student achievement from teacher strikes. (In the Argentina study, the average student lost 88 school days.)
In contrast, the researchers find no evidence that US teacher strikes, which are much shorter, affected reading or math achievement for students in the year of the strike, or in the five years after. While US strikes lasting two or more weeks negatively affected math achievement in both the year of the strike and the year after, scores rebounded for students after that.
In fact, Lyon said they could not rule out that the brief teacher strikes actually boosted student learning over time, given the increased school spending associated with them. A recent influential meta-analysis on school finance found that increasing operational spending by $1,000 per student for four years helped student learning.
It’s possible higher wages could reduce teacher burnout, or the need to work second jobs, leading to improved performance in the classroom. Still, Lyon explained, it’s also possible that increased spending on teachers would not lead to higher student test scores, if wage gains went primarily to more experienced teachers, or to pensions, or if teachers were already maximizing their effort before the strike.”
The demand for protections against automation sound outrageous. Preventing automation costs everyone more money. They are threatening to sharply increase the price of everything temporarily, if we don’t let them gradually increase the price for everyone overtime due to inefficient practices. It’s selfishness–hurting everyone else for their own gain. If we want an economy that grows and creates the most good for the most people, we have to let inefficient jobs die.
“The striking workers essentially load and unload the giant containers that go onto ships, trains or commercial trucks, which can contain all manner of goods, from building materials to auto parts. People expecting new cars may not get them, some factories may not have the raw materials they need and some items, such as bananas, may become hard to come by — especially the longer the strike persists.
Vessels used by other industries — for instance, oil tankers and cruise ships — will not be affected by the strike, because they are not loaded or unloaded by ILA members. And ports on the West Coast aren’t part of the contract dispute.
Even the appearance of such a sharp blow to the economy just weeks before the election presents an enormous opening for Republicans to hammer their message that Democrats are worse for Americans’ wallets. It’s happening just as Harris is trying to convince voters that having her in the White House would mean more jobs and more affordable housing, among other promises.
Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tried to reassure residents Monday that her state — one of the strike’s biggest targets — has enough essential goods to keep it from suffering the kind of immediate supply chain problems that hit it during the early days of the pandemic.
She said her team is working to make sure the strike doesn’t bleed into people’s lives, and said she doesn’t expect it to affect the election, particularly in the state’s close congressional contests.
“In preparation for this moment, New York has been working around the clock to ensure that our grocery stores and medical facilities have the essential products they need,” Hochul said in a statement shortly after the strike became official. “It’s critical for USMX and the ILA to reach a fair agreement soon that respects workers and ensures a flow of commerce through our ports.”
New York has stockpiles of medical supplies, many prescription drugs come by plane, and the U.S. produces lots of its own food. Even much of the food that the U.S. imports comes through land borders with Canada and Mexico that the strike will not affect.
Still, New York and New Jersey are home to the East Coast’s largest port. One hundred thousand cargo containers are sitting at port facilities in the two states, and dozens of cargo ships are preparing to anchor offshore until the strike ends, according to regional port officials.”
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“The strike comes after a six-year master contract between the union and the shipping industry expired on Monday. The union has asked for major wage increases and protections against automation. The shipping industry has accused the union of not coming to the table.”
“Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Sunday launched their heaviest exchange of fire after months of strikes and counterstrikes that have raised fears of an all-out war.
By mid-morning, the exchange of fire had ended, with both sides saying they had only aimed at military targets. The Israeli strikes killed three militants in Lebanon, and Israel’s military said a soldier was killed by either an interceptor of incoming fire or shrapnel from one. But the situation remained tense.”
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“Israel said around 100 warplanes launched airstrikes targeting thousands of rocket launchers across southern Lebanon to thwart an imminent Hezbollah attack. Hezbollah said it launched hundreds of rockets and drones aimed at military bases and missile defense positions in northern Israel and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
Hezbollah called the attack an initial response to the targeted killing of one of its founding members and top commanders, Fouad Shukur, in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month. It said its military operations for Sunday were concluded, but Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said they will “reserve the right to respond at a later time” if the results of Sunday’s attack aimed at a military intelligence base near Tel Aviv aren’t sufficient.
Israel’s military said its intelligence base near Tel Aviv wasn’t hit. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said an initial assessment showed “very little damage” in Israel.”
“The White House is strongly denying reports that Iran provided any advance warning of the massive aerial attack it sent towards Israel on Saturday, calling the suggestion that Tehran would have provided any information on its military plans “ridiculous”.
John Kirby, the president’s national security communications adviser, also took a page from President Joe Biden’s book of oft-used phrases by referring to reports of such warnings — through back channels or otherwise — as “malarkey”.
“We did receive messages from Iran, and they receive messages from us too, but there was never any message to us or to anyone else on the timeframe, the targets, or the type of response,” he said during a White House press briefing on Monday.
“I want to be clear, this whole narrative out there that Iran passed us a message with what they were going to do is ridiculous,” he later added.”