The News Not Noise Letter: MomBods Under the Microscope
Reporting pregnancy to the government, deplatforming it in Times Square. Plus: Michael Cohen on the stand, and more confusion over the death toll in Gaza.
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Here are your headlines:
Israel/Gaza Updates:
UN Updates Death Toll: The UN dramatically reduced its death toll for women and children in Gaza last week, now reporting half as many women and children have died in the Gaza war compared to the previously reported number. A UN spokesperson said that “in the fog of war, it’s difficult to come up with numbers.” The UN – and most of the legacy media – uses figures provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. The Health Ministry’s new figures reflect roughly 50% fewer deaths for women and children – but the UN says the total number of dead is unchanged. Hamas adds that they don’t have independent or “complete” identification for 15,000 of those they report as dead, and included them in the count based on media reports (they don’t name the media sources). If you’re confused, you’re not alone. The legitimacy of their count is disputed (interesting podcast here). Note: this discussion is not meant to minimize the horrors of war or the suffering of civilians. There is no “good” death toll. The point is, we don’t know the breakdown of dead and wounded and we might not for some time. That’s not unusual in war, but in this war, social media obsessed viewers tend to demand immediacy over accuracy.
Blinken’s Warning: Over the weekend, Sec. of State Blinken expressed deep concerns about Israel’s intended Rafah offensive, saying Israel has not shown a “credible plan” to keep civilians safe. He said a “major military operation” in Rafah may not root out the Hamas presence in Rafah, but instead create a “vacuum filled by chaos” that could lead to an “insurgency with many armed Hamas fighters left.” And the Israeli press reports that Egypt has warned that pursuing a full operation in Rafah would threaten its longstanding peace agreement with Israel.
Hamas in Turkey? Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today revealed that 1000 members of Hamas are in Turkey receiving medical treatment for injuries sustained during fighting in Gaza. A spokesperson for the Gaza Health Ministry said nearly 5000 Palestinians have been allowed to leave Gaza to receive medical care. So…why are 20% of them Hamas?
Rafah Operation: One third of Rafah is under evacuation orders, and the UN says over 360,000 Palestinians have fled the city in the last week. Rafah is under bombardment from tanks and airstrikes as Israel conducts what Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s office called a “precise operation.” No new aid has entered the south of Gaza for a week, and the UN reports that UN-run bakeries in Rafah have likely run out of food.
Campus Protest Updates: Protests continue at graduation ceremonies across the country, but they’ve been comparatively tame. Despite this, divisions are growing inside the Democratic Party. Last week, former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton spoke about the protests on MSNBC, saying many of the “young people” she’s spoken to “don’t know very much at all about the history of the Middle East.” Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen is clapping back, saying on CBS that Clinton was “quite dismissive of students’ concerns,” adding that the students are paying attention to the “awful humanitarian crisis and high civilian death toll in Gaza.” This disagreement is emblematic of a larger divide plaguing the left right now over whether and how to respond to student protests – and to the crisis in Gaza.
Biden Swing State Polling: A new poll from the New York Times, Siena College, and the Philadelphia Inquirer shows Biden lagging behind Trump in five key swing states: Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, and Nevada. (Polls, especially this early, don’t guarantee election outcomes. But they offer useful insight to understand campaign priorities.)
Eyes on Michigan: A few thousand voters in Michigan could decide the presidential election. The latest poll shows Trump beating Biden in Michigan by a whopping 7 points: 49-42. This is bad news for the Biden team. Michigan has one of the largest Muslim populations of any US state and the largest Muslim population of the 2024 battleground states. Over 200,000 registered voters in Michigan are Muslim, accounting for about 2.5% of registered voters in the state. According to the Pew Research Center, about two-thirds of American Muslims tend to vote Democratic. In 2020, Biden won Michigan by just 154,188 votes. Losing the state’s Muslim vote could cost him that state and, in theory, the presidency.
Michael Cohen Testifies: Today the jury in Trump’s NY criminal trial heard from the prosecution’s star witness, Michael Cohen. Cohen was Trump’s lawyer and “fixer” for many years, and he was at the center of the alleged false-payments scheme. Cohen today told jurors that Trump ordered him to help cover up a potentially “catastrophic” story about Trump’s sexual affair with Stormy Daniels by paying her off. Then Cohen says Trump signed off on a plan to illegally reimburse Cohen. The prosecution showed an enormous amount of documentary evidence (phone records, meeting notes, emails, etc.) to corroborate Cohen’s testimony; the defense will try to undermine Cohen’s credibility tomorrow, citing his previous record of lying under oath.
Melania’s Idea: In court today, Michael Cohen testified about the Trump campaign’s scramble to respond to the Access Hollywood tape in 2016, and revealed that the idea to call the “grab them by the —” comments “locker room talk” was Melania Trump’s idea. Guess this proves she really doesn’t care.
Senator on Trial: Also today, jury selection began in the trial of NJ Senator Bob Menendez, who is accused of bribery.
Breastfeeding Billboard: An advertisement (pictured at the top of this newsletter) for lactation cookies featuring a pregnant woman was removed from Times Square by Clear Channel Outdoor, the billboard company, for violating their “guidelines on acceptable content.” Many on social media have pointed out the same billboard space regularly displays sexualized advertisements without issue. This is far from the first time pregnant women’s bodies have been deemed obscene. I posted about this in Instagram stories this weekend and you had a lot to say. Here are some of your responses:
“Social media companies have a similar rule. They’re ok with families posting pictures with all their guns, but not with a woman showing her real weapons (her nipples)!”
“Cutthroat ad executives understanding and reinforcing internalized misogyny: pregnant women don’t keep attention on the ads, because they are more difficult to sexualize. Less eyes means less money returned from ads. A Horrible justification machine.”
“The best part is that if you go to clearchanneloutdoor’s page, they are advertising a billboard of JLo in her underwear.”
One could write a dissertation on this topic but I want to make a point as an entrepreneur. What’s confusing to me – this product is for women. The ad is meant to appeal to expecting moms. Maybe it is hard for some men to sexualize a pregnant woman, ok. From a marketing/business POV, who cares? Why should an ad for women’s products cater to men? As long as it’s selling the product to women, it’s working. Do products targeting men – that offend women – get their ads pulled? There’s still such a profound undertow for businesses (other than beauty!) that cater to modern women’s needs.
Sen. Katie Britt’s MOMS Bill – National Pregnancy Database?
You may have read that Sen. Katie Britt, whose State of the Union response prompted Handmaid’s Tale comparisons, is trying to create a national pregnancy database that will allow the government to “track pregnancies.” That’s ringing alarm bells for reproductive rights advocates who fear that it’d be used to monitor, investigate and prosecute women over reproductive choices. Sen. Britt says the bill is just meant to support pregnant women and is “evidence that you can absolutely be pro-life, pro-woman, and pro-family at the same time.” So what does the bill actually say?
