Denmark: Govt. Set To Scrap Public Holiday To Boost Defense Budget
Denmark's new coalition government, which was unveiled on Thursday, has announced that one of the country's 11 public holidays — most likely the Great Prayer Day — will be dropped in order to boost productivity and economic activity.
The holiday, known as Store Bededag in Danish, falls on the Friday before the fourth Sunday after Easter and has been celebrated by Danes since 1686. The date has traditionally been a popular day for confirmation ceremonies.
The news comes as Copenhagen seeks to meet NATO's target of spending 2% of GDP on defense, with PM Mette Frederiksen pointing to the Ukraine war to explain the country's need to strengthen its defenses. The decision to scrap the holiday has drawn criticism from business and church leaders.
Establishment-critical narrative
This decision has been rightly criticized by both sides of the political spectrum. Making Danes cover the cost of tax cuts for companies and the rich with their well-earned and traditionally significant holiday is unjust. It also interferes with the long-standing plans of many young people who intend to attend Church of Denmark confirmation ceremonies around the Great Prayer Day.
Pro-establishment narrative
As Denmark braces for uncertain geopolitical and economic times, harsh measures must be taken. The centrist coalition is planning to get rid of this popular, one-day public holiday in 2024 with the aim of boosting finance's, so that the country has a chance of meeting NATO's military spending target by 2030. It is not only ordinary Danes paying for this difficult situation — the coalition is also advancing a plan to impose tax hikes on the upper class.
Nerd narrative
There's an 81% chance that the Social Democrats will hold a position in government after the next Danish general election, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Study: US Parkinson's Disease Prevalence 50% Higher Than Prior Estimates
According to a study published on Thursday, Parkinson's disease annually strikes nearly 90K Americans aged 65 and over – about 30K more than earlier estimates. At all ages, the incidence was higher in men than in women, the study found.
US studies conducted in the mid-1980s estimated nearly 60K people are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease each year. In 2020, the estimates grew closer to 86K.
Documenting the rising incidence rates can aid advocacy groups to "invest in more research toward better treatments, a cure, and prevention," claim researchers. The findings may help shed light on Parkinson's "hot spots" where more resources may be needed to provide adequate health care services.
Narrative A
The findings that Parkinson's rates are higher in the "Rust Belt" states of the US suggest a link between exposure to environmental toxins, such as pesticides and heavy metals, and an increased risk. We must look into the impact of industrialization on Parkinson's risk to explain why some people with genetic risk factors for the disease get it in some geographic regions while others don't.
Narrative B
Environmental factors are important to explore, but there's a clear causal link between rising economic debt and critical illnesses like cancer, heart disease, and lung disease. Parkinson's is a costly disease for patients and their caregivers to treat. Broader research and state intervention are needed on the correlation between this debilitating disease and economic stress.
Day 296: New Russian Missile Attacks on Energy Infrastructure
Russia launched over 70 missiles into Ukraine on Friday, Ukrainian officials said, once again striking energy infrastructure across the country. Attacks were recorded in Kyiv, its surrounding Oblast, as well as the regions of Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, and Zhytomyr.
The attacks left the whole of the capital without power or electricity, with outages also reported in the city of Poltava and the regions of Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Donetsk, and Dnipropetrovsk.
Head of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentyn Reznichenko, said two civilians were killed and five more were injured after one missile hit a residential building in the city of Kryvyi Rih. No further civilian casualties have been reported at this stage.
Pro-establishment narrative
Russia's deliberate targeting of energy infrastructure — unnecessarily increasing the suffering of civilians — amounts to war crimes. This continuing Russian barbarity must be confronted.
Pro-Russia narrative
Attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure are a direct consequence of the failure of the country's leadership to meaningfully engage in peace talks and the thought that they can defeat Russia on the battlefield. These attacks will stop once a more sober position is reached.
Nerd narrative
There is a 1% chance that NATO will declare a No-Fly Zone anywhere in Ukraine before 2023, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Biden Calls For African Union To Join G20
At the US-Africa Summit in Washington, US Pres. Joe Biden on Thursday announced support for the African Union (AU), which represents one of the world's fastest-growing regions, to become a permanent member of the G20 group of major economies.
Noting that African leadership and innovation are critical in tackling some of the world's biggest problems, Biden also advocated Washington's support for reforming the UN Security Council to allow for an African representative.
Biden also pledged $2B to strengthen food security and $165M to support peaceful and credible elections in Africa in 2023. Earlier this week, the US president had outlined Washington's plans for spending $55B over the next three years on government programs in the continent.
Pro-establishment narrative
It was a strategic mistake on Washington's part to neglect Africa in recent years. This allowed rivals like China and Russia to steadily deepen their ties with the continent. During the summit, the US seized the opportunity to regain some ground. The investments promised by Washington and the support for the AU joining the G20 are significant and long-overdue steps in the right direction.
Establishment-critical narrative
Though Washington pretends that it wants to close the growing trust gap between the US and Africa, the Biden admin. still sees Africa merely as a pawn in its strategic goal of competing with China and Russia. However, African leaders have long known that the US isn't concerned with cooperation for mutual benefit. Africa is unlikely to actually benefit from the summit in a meaningful way.
More JFK Assassination Files Released
The US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) on Thursday released over 13k documents related to the 1963 assassination of former US Pres. John F. Kennedy. However, thousands more remain redacted or completely withheld, ostensibly for national security or foreign relations reasons.
The release came shortly after Pres. Joe Biden signed an executive order authorizing their disclosure. In its text, Biden cited his admin's "commitment to transparency" and desire to give Americans a better "understanding of the Government's investigation" of the assassination.
However, the executive order added that NARA has "identified a limited number of records" not yet ready for public disclosure, citing consultation with "relevant consulting agencies" to ensure the continued postponement of redactions was "appropriate."
Pro-establishment narrative
While the release of new documents is undoubtedly of interest to historians, it's unexpected that they'll contain new bombshells that will challenge what the JFK Commission concluded years ago — that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing the president.
Establishment-critical narrative
By continuing to redact and hold back thousands of documents, intelligence agencies and the Biden administration are failing to abide by the letter of the law — that all of the documents are released without further censorship. Now almost 60 years after Kennedy's death, there's no reason for the continued secrecy.
Cynical narrative
Whether you're willing to entertain the idea of the CIA's involvement or not, there are certainly parts of this story that deserve more scrutiny, particularly regarding the relationship between the agency, Lee Harvey Oswald, and the man who killed Oswald, Jack Ruby. Leaders' reluctance to fully disclose the information only feeds Americans' distrust of their government and hints that there's more to the story than what has been shared.
Japan Unveils $320B Military Development
On Friday, Japan announced a five-year $320B package to build up its military — the largest of its kind since World War II and a significant departure from its pacifist stance.
The new plan will reportedly include an increased defense budget of 2% of GDP by 2027, up from about the current 1%. Based on the current GDP, annual spending could reach approximately $80B, ranking Japan third out of the top three countries, behind the US and China.
Under the plan, Tokyo will reportedly purchase US long-range missiles with the capacity to eliminate potential adversary launch sites in the event of an attack. It also plans to bolster its cyber warfare capabilities.
Anti-China narrative
Japan, which holds the largest permanent contingent of US forces overseas, can no longer solely rely on US support — a fact that this latest plan acknowledges. The new strategy fortifies the US and Japan's vigor and will reshape their ability to promote peace and protect the Indo-Pacific region as China attempts to exert its influence.
Pro-China narrative
Japan is groundlessly discrediting China. By adopting this new policy, Japan is putting itself on a more offensive footing, and deviating from its commitment to China-Japan relations and the common understanding between the two countries. But hyping-up the so-called China threat to find an excuse for its military build-up is doomed to fail.
Nerd narrative
There is a 62% chance that Japan Self-Defense Forces will have tested a Tomahawk missile by mid-2027, according to the Metaculus Prediction Community.
UK to Investigate if Elite Forces Killed Afghan Civilians
The UK's defense ministry announced Thursday that a statutory inquiry headed by senior judge Charles Haddon-Cave will start early next year into allegations of unlawful killings by the elite Special Air Service (SAS) corps in Afghanistan from mid-2010 to mid-2013.
Speaking to the House of Commons, minister for defense people Andrew Murrison stated the Ministry would concede to longstanding demands for an "independent statutory inquiry" into reports that British troops killed Afghan civilians in cold blood.
He added that the probe will also focus on the "adequacy of subsequent investigations" by the Ministry of Defense into allegations of wrongdoing including murder, citing that "two ongoing judicial review cases" have informed this decision.
Establishment-critical narrative
The announcement of this inquiry may give some hope to the mourning families of those killed by the SAS unit, but it is very unlikely that these war criminals will be held accountable. The controversial Overseas Operation Act virtually bars war crimes prosecution of British troops, especially for any allegations over five years old. This is a failure of the British military and institutions.
Pro-establishment narrative
This probe reinforces that UK's armed forces must comply with the highest possible operational standards. However, the bar for prosecutions must be very high so as not to inflict a severe blow on the morale of British veterans. This probe could very well join several others regarding allegations of misconduct — each failing to find enough evidence for prosecutions.
US Senate Passes Record $858B Defense Budget
The US Senate on Thursday authorized a record $858B in annual defense spending, $45B more than Pres. Joe Biden proposed. This comes after the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an annual must-pass bill that sets policy for the Pentagon, was passed by the House last week; Biden is expected to now sign it.
The NDAA provides $817B to the Pentagon, while $30B goes toward nuclear weapons development overseen by the Dept. of Energy. This is the second consecutive year Congress has exceeded Biden’s military spending plans by tens of billions of dollars.
Aid to Ukraine increased to $800M for the fiscal year 2023, a $500M increase from last year. A defense modernization program for Taiwan to deter Chinese action would also be established.
Establishment-critical narrative
Beyond the headline-grabbing, non-spending provisions in this bill is a bloated budget that doesn’t even take into account inflation or what it will cost to replace weapons the US has given to Ukraine. The increased spending is just going to buy the military more weapons — and not even ones geared toward modern-day challenges and threats. This bill deserves more scrutiny from politicians, the press, and citizens.
Pro-establishment narrative
For the US to fulfill its obligations to defend its allies across the globe, and defend itself, it needs even more military expenditures. Military spending as part of the Gross Domestic Product is actually less than it has averaged over the past 50 years. All branches are short of personnel, ships are poorly maintained, and it’s doubtful the weapons industry would be able to meet the country’s needs in case of a conflict. There must be a better commitment to national defense.
Musk Restores Journalists' Twitter Accounts
Twitter owner Elon Musk has reinstated the accounts of several prominent journalists who recently had been covering the company and had their accounts suspended last Thursday, allegedly for breaking a rule against the publishing of personal information called "doxxing."
CNN’s Donie O'Sullivan, New York Times tech reporter Ryan Mac, the Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, and former Vox writer Aaron Rupar were among those banned.
The suspensions came one day after Musk banned an account that was tracking flights he made on a private jet. At the same time, Twitter adopted a policy forbidding the sharing of another person’s current geographic location without consent; many of the banned journalists had been reporting on the new policy.
Narrative A
This is still an attack on press freedom because the reinstated journalists were only conditionally allowed back on the platform. Musk continues to practice the philosophy of "free speech for me, but not for thee." His banning spree against journalists who cover him came after he released the “Twitter files” in an attempt to expose previous management’s censorship, but he’s doing the same thing.
Narrative B
These aren’t journalists Musk banned, they’re activists disguising themselves as members of the media, and their so-called reporting put Musk and his family at risk of physical attack. In the past, these same people called for banning the accounts of right-wing individuals for far less egregious actions, so they should be able to understand why Musk has taken this action and is putting conditions on their reinstatements.
Southern Calif. County to Consider Seceding from State
San Bernardino County, California's fifth-largest county with 2.2M people, has approved an advisory ballot proposal allowing local officials to inquire into the possibility of seceding from the state.
As this would be an attempt to form a new state — the first since Hawaii in 1959 — the ballot measure directed officials to look into the legalities of such a move. If pursued, secession would need to be approved by both the state legislature and Congress.
Though secession is likely to be a long shot, the vote is significant given the racial and ethnic diversity of the county and points to division as residents face growing homelessness, rising crime and housing prices, and some of the highest taxes in the country. As of 2019, its unemployment rate was 9.5%, and its poverty rate was 12.2%.
Republican narrative
Though state divorce may sound extreme, the right to consider it is fundamental to American principles. Anyone who's traveled to upstate New York, western Maryland, or the rural parts of any state knows how disparate these regions are from the liberal urban hubs that control their legislatures. San Bernardino is no different. Not only should it secede, but so should many other regions if we hope to have a fair national electorate.
Democratic narrative
The idea of dividing California into multiple states, often proposed by aggrieved Republicans, is nothing new, and neither is its abysmal chance of succeeding. The irony is further displayed in that if another state were to be created, it would lead to a larger federal budget — the opposite of what Republicans argue for day in and day out.