May 24, 2021: Belarus Hijacks Airline to Abduct Journalist; Gaza Sees Rise in Covid Cases; Biden Gives Haitians Protected Status

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TODAY'S HEADLINES:


The far-right dictator of Belarus used a fighter jet and a fake
bomb threat to force down a civilian airliner flying over his
country, allowing him to arrest a journalist and dissident who
was on board.


Meanwhile, Israel’s violence against Gaza is still having ripple
effects after a ceasefire, as health officials report hospitals
overwhelmed with wounded civilians are now also facing a surge in
coronavirus cases.


And lastly, the Biden Administration finally granted Temporary
Protected Status to thousands of Haitian immigrants living in the
U.S., shielding them from deportation back to a country that is
dealing with both a political crisis and a brutal COVID epidemic.


THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:


Belarus’ dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko carried out a shocking
abduction of a journalist on Sunday, using a fighter jet and a
faked bomb plot to force down a civilian airliner carrying the
dissident and then arresting him on the ground.


On Sunday, dissident journalist Roman Protasevich was on a
Ryanair flight from Greece to Vilnius, Poland, where he has been
living in exile. Protasevich is the 26-year-old former editor of
NEXTA, a channel on the Telegram app that has become one of
Belarus’s largest opposition media companies.


The flight passed through Belarussian airspace, at which point
Belarussian air traffic control claimed that there was a bomb
threat aboard. Lukashenko then used that as pretext to personally
order Mig-29 fighter jet up to force the plane to land in Minsk,
although it was by that time far closer to its destination of
Vilnius, according to the BBC.


After seven hours on the tarmac in Minsk, the flight eventually
made it to Vilnius. But Protasevich was not aboard, as he had
been abducted by Belarussian agents when the plane was forced to
land. One passenger on the flight told AFP quote:


“He was not screaming, but it was clear that he was very much
afraid. It looked like if the window had been open, he would have
jumped out of it.” Protasevich reportedly told other passengers
that he was facing the death penalty.


Lukashenko has, in recent months, brutally repressed protests
against his authoritarian rule, but has been staunchly defended
by the Russian government and faced little to no consequences for
his policies. European governments and the U.S. have strongly
denounced the shocking hijacking, but it’s unclear what concrete
action they can or actually will take -- prior sanctions on the
Lukashenko regime have clearly done little to dampen his brazen
authoritarianism.


Gaza Sees Rise in Covid Cases


Israel agreed to stop its outright bombardment of the Gaza strip
on Friday, but the aftershocks of its brutal campaign of violence
are still shaking the captive population there.


According to the Washington Post, Gaza’s hospitals are starting
to experience a new wave of COVID cases, as Israel’s bombardment
forced many residents into close-packed bomb shelters.


Those cases are in addition to the 1,900 people who were injured
directly by Israel’s bombing. To make matters worse, the Post
reports that an airstrike destroyed the only lab in Gaza that was
doing PCR tests for COVID.


All of this is even more outrageous when you consider the
disparities between Israel and Gaza’s access to the vaccine.
Outside of the strip, Israel has conducted one of the most
successful vaccination campaigns in the world. But inside Gaza,
only 2 percent of the population has been vaccinated. Much of
this shortage is in thanks in part to the Israeli blockade that
stops medical supplies getting through to people there.


Even before the recent bombardment, Gaza’s ICUs were completely
swamped. The country has only 60 ICU beds for a population of
almost 2 million.


The International Red Cross said that damage inflicted by Israel
during the conflict cut water supplies in Gaza by 40 percent and
had cut power to 700,000 Gazans at one point or another.


Lest we forget: all of this damage is intentional. Israel knows
what will happen when it drops its bombs. And even though it
claims to be targeting Hamas, it’s Gaza’s citizens who suffer the
most.


Biden Gives Haitians Protected Status


Some good news from the Biden Administration. Biden’s head of the
DHS announced on Saturday that Haitians living in the U.S. would
be extended Temporary Protected Status, reversing Trump-era
efforts to deport them or force them out of the country.


Some 150,000 Haitians have been living in the U.S. since the
devastating 2010 earthquake, and recent political crises and the
pandemic there have only made their predicament more dire.


Alejandro Mayorkas, the head of the DHS, acknowledged that the
country’s recent plight has made it all the more important to
offer these people shelter.


The temporary protected status order will last for 18 months, and
is a continuation of policies the Obama administration started
for Haitians after the 2010 quake. The New York Times reports
that it originally stems from a 1990 law that allowed foreigners
who had to flee their homes because of natural disasters and
conflict to work and live in the United States.


This decision is far from fixing the disastrous trend of U.S.
immigration policy, but it will certainly be a welcome relief for
thousands of Haitians fearing for their lives and livelihoods.
The U.S. was founded to offer refuge to the needy, and policies
like this are the least we can do to live up to that ideal.


AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:


Some more good news for the coronavirus watch in the U.S. Our
cases are down to their lowest rate since last summer, with fewer
than 30,000 new cases a day. That’s still a lot, but at least 50
percent of Americans have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine
now, so we should see those continue to drop.


The Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Jack Read,
said on Sunday that he supports assigning independent prosecutors
to sexual assault cases in the military, cutting out the role
that unit commanders had played in investigating their own
troops.


Shareholders at Tribune Publishing, the company that owns the
Chicago Tribune and many other newspapers, approved a sale of the
company to Alden Global Capital, one of the most bloodthirsty
vulture capital funds that has been destroying newspaper chains
across the country, in another blow to the greater journalism
industry.


In news that should surprise no one, GOP Senator Rand Paul has
announced he will not get the COVID vaccine. What can we say -- I
guess the only thing Rand is afraid of is that neighbor who beat
the crap out of him a few years back, and not a deadly pandemic.
A smart guy, that Rand.


AM QUICKIE - MAY 24, 2021


HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner


WRITER - Jack Crosbie


PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw


EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn