South Korea President Attempts a Coup, How Ukraine War Re-Ignited Civil War in Syria, More K-12 Classrooms Banning Phones Completely, Hate Crime Against Jewish Man in Chicago...Taxpayer Funded?!
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Hey, welcome to The Five, a publication about the stories that matter.
While everyone was talking about the Hunter Biden story…Syria, and maybe South Korea, have fallen into civil war.
One of the main reasons this publication exists is to shine a light on what’s important vs what is trending on social media.
That being said…let’s dive into the news.
[one]
The President of South Korea declared martial law early this morning, although the nation’s Parliament is trying to pull it back.
The Associated Press reports:
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law late Tuesday, vowing to eliminate “anti-state” forces as he struggles against an opposition that controls the country’s parliament and that he accuses of sympathizing with communist North Korea.
Hours later, parliament voted to lift the declaration, with the National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik declaring that lawmakers “will protect democracy with the people.” Woo called for police and military personnel to withdraw from the Assembly’s grounds.
The president’s surprising move harkened back to an era of authoritarian leaders that the country has not seen since the 1980s, and it was immediately denounced by the opposition and the leader of Yoon’s own conservative party.
Following Yoon’s announcement, South Korea’s military proclaimed that parliament and other political gatherings that could cause “social confusion” would be suspended, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
The military also said that the country’s striking doctors should return to work within 48 hours, Yonhap said. Thousands of doctors have been striking for months over government plans to expand the number of students at medical schools. The military said anyone who violates the decree could be arrested without a warrant.
Under South Korean law, martial law can be lifted with a majority vote in the parliament, where the opposition Democratic Party holds a majority.
Soon after the declaration, the National Assembly speaker called in an emergency statement released on his YouTube channel for all lawmakers to gather at the National Assembly. He urged military and law enforcement personnel to “remain calm and hold their positions.
All 190 lawmakers who participated in the vote supported the lifting of martial law. Television footage showed soldiers who had been stationed at parliament leaving the site after the vote.
I’m no expert on South Korea, but the idea that the Parliament is full of sympathizers for North Korea, where people starve to death every winter, is pretty insane. If North Korea were to take over South Korea, the first thing they would do would be to execute every sitting state official.
President Yoon Suk Yeol is not stopping dictatorship…he is trying to set the sytem up to become a dictator. This was an attempted coup. Full stop.
[two]
An emerging trend in education is the number of schools who are outright banning phones during the school day, with students dropping their cell phones in bins (pictured above) until the final bell.
Some states are trying to legislate against pervasive phone use in schools. Florida, South Carolina and Louisiana have statewide restrictions — and states like California, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio and Virginia have policies requiring districts or schools to create policies banning phones, according to findings from EducationWeek.
During the 2023-2024 academic year, Rutherford says his students were significantly more disengaged. He felt like he wasn't making a difference.
"Most of the people in the class, they've got their headphones in, they've got their phones on. They're not actually listening," Rutherford said.
He says that as a teacher with ADHD, he fed off the energy of his class.
"I'm really aware of whether someone's listening to me or paying attention to me." Rutherford said. "And this year," he told NPR at the end of the 2023-2024 school year, "I was just like, 'I can't…They're not interested in what I have to say.' And that, frankly, is the reason that I had to leave."
In addition to the phone use, students were not interacting with each other, sometimes writing in journal entries that they were anxious, depressed and lonely — which made them burrow further into their devices, Rutherford said.
Good. For more on this, check out Jonathan Haight’s The Anxious Generation, one the best books this year. Phones have no place in the K-12 classroom. Haight’s research shows that even phone usage BETWEEN classes interrupts students’ abilities to pay attention, learn and socialize.
[three]
Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, who allegedly attempted to murder an Orthadox Jew in Chicago, has allegedly died by suicide.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports:
The sheriff’s office said there is no evidence of foul play at this time, and there was no indication that he was at risk of suicide. Following protocol, the Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force will be conducting an independent investigation. Abdallahi was being held on various charges including attempted murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm, hate crime and terrorism.
Abdallahi was admitted to Cermak Health Services on Nov. 15 after receiving treatment for a gunshot wound at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. The transfer was made after medical and mental health evaluations used to help determine appropriate housing for individuals based on the level of care they require were conducted.
Around 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 26, in the 2600 block of West Farwell Avenue, a 39-year-old Orthodox Jewish man wearing traditional dress was on his way to a nearby synagogue when Abdallahi is accused of approaching from behind and shooting him in the shoulder. Neighbors came to the aid of the wounded man while the shooter remained in the area.
Some outlets are reporting that Mohamed was detained by border patrol in San Diego last year, which means he may have received a taxpayer-funded plane ticket to Chicago.
Like the recent conviction of Laken Riley murderer, who relocated from New York to Atlanta on the taxpayer dime, it appears that this hate crime was directly related to current federal policy.
[four]
An unexpected byproduct of the wars in Israel and Ukraine…is that they have re-ignited the Syrian Civil War.
A lightning offensive in Syria last week broke a prolonged stalemate 13 years into Syria's civil war and emphasized the vulnerability of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Why it matters: Rebels last week reclaimed nearly all of Aleppo, Syria's second city, in the most significant gains in years by opposition forces. The rebels have Damascus in their sights, and the ability of Assad's forces to repel them — with their patrons Russia and Iran bogged down by other conflicts — suddenly seems uncertain.
The big picture: The Syrian civil war began during the Arab Spring in 2011 after Assad forcefully cracked down on anti-government protests.
More than 14 million Syrians have been displaced from their homes as a result of the war, with millions becoming refugees abroad, according to the United Nations.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a human rights group based in the U.K., estimated last year that more than 600,000 people had been killed during the war.
What do we know about the offensive?
A coalition of armed rebel groups launched the offensive last Wednesday and by Friday retook nearly all of Aleppo, the country's economic capital.
That's both a symbolic and strategic victory for the rebels. Assad's capture of Aleppo in 2016 was seen as a turning point that pushed the war in his favor.
The rebels also captured other areas of Northwest Syria in the Idlib and Hama provinces.
The latest: Battles between opposition rebels and government forces continued Tuesday on the outskirts of Hama city — located between Aleppo and the capital of Damascus — with the rebels claiming they'd liberated three towns to the city's north, the Washington Post reported.
The rebels are now about 6 miles from Hama, with the area being targeted by Russian and Syrian airstrikes, AP reported Tuesday. Syrian government forces on Tuesday recaptured some of the territory they lost last week.
The Syrian government was reinforcing its forces in the north of Hama in preparation for a counterattack, the Syrian state news agency reported, per the Post.
State of play: Syrian government and Russian forces launched airstrikes on the cities Aleppo and Idlib on Monday, according to the Syrian Civil Defense, first responders also known as the White Helmets.
[five]
RFK Jr is undoubtably one of the most controversial figures in the upcoming Trump 2.0 Administration…but some of the biggest opponents to his “Make America Healthy Again” plan…come from the right side of the aisle.
Kennedy has vowed to crack down on dyes in the food industry and to reduce pesticides in the farm and agriculture industry.
He has called for restrictions on ultra-processed foods as part of an initiative to address the high rates of chronic disease in the United States, and he's said more research needs to be conducted on vaccines.
Those plans could require him to override regulations set in place by the Food and Drug Administration or Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, and/or perhaps see new regulations put in place.
Political science experts say this may put him at odds with members of his own party, because Republicans typically advocate for fewer regulations and limited government oversight.
"I think where you would see the challenges would be on allocation of money," Shana Gadarian, a professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in New York, told ABC News.
"If all of a sudden HHS is now in the business of passing more regulations on the food industry, on agriculture, we might see that a Republican Senate majority and a Republican House is less interested in allocating a budget to HHS that then would be under a different leadership," she continued.
Despite Republican criticism of previous Democratic initiatives to tackle disease and childhood obesity, Kennedy has received praise from some Republicans.
"RFK Jr. has championed issues like healthy foods and the need for greater transparency in our public health infrastructure," Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, said in a statement earlier this month. "I look forward to learning more about his other policy positions and how they will support a conservative, pro-American agenda."
Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin called Kennedy a "brilliant, courageous truth-teller whose unwavering commitment to transparency will make America a healthier nation," and Sen. Josh Hawley called Trump's decision to name him to head the HHS a "Bad day for Big Pharma!"
However, Gadarian said the support from some Republicans in the Senate may not translate to support among Republican constituents.
Kennedy is certainly an interesting figure…and he undoubtably had his dectractors. But the “MAHA” movement also has legions of suburban moms supporting a new direction for America’s food system.
We shall see.
Until the next one,
-sth