Hello readers, happy Tuesday! Today, we’re covering Amazon’s massive outage, the National Guard battle, Japan’s new prime minister, the U.S.-Australia rare-earth deal, more Republican texts, the No Kings protests, and the Louvre heist.

“It’s all fine to say, ‘Time will heal everything, this too shall pass away. People will forget’ — and things like that when you are not involved, but when you are, there is no passage of time, people do not forget, and you are in the middle of something that does not change.” – John Steinbeck

AWS: Amazon’s Web Shutdown

A large chunk of the internet went down yesterday thanks to Amazon. The corporation’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) division hosts servers for a massive number of other software companies, and an “operational issue” at its North Virginia data center – one of its biggest server hubs – took down a surprising amount of sites and apps. Reddit, Snapchat, Netflix, Twitch, ChatGPT, WhatsApp, Venmo, and even some British government websites experienced outages today, though most of the sites and services are back up now.

The massive outage illustrates the internet’s increased reliance on cloud infrastructure services like AWS. A small number of industry giants, including AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Services, host a majority of internet infrastructure now, meaning a single issue at any one of the tech giants can take down a concerning number of other companies’ services.

The outage took down Canvas, a software platform used by roughly 50% of all colleges and universities in North America, rendering quizzes, attendance records, and assignments inaccessible to hundreds of thousands of students. “I currently can’t grade any online assignments, and my students can’t access their online materials,” said one professor.

A National Battle Over The National Guard

Yesterday, a three-judge panel overturned a temporary restraining order blocking Trump’s plans to deploy Oregon National Guard troops to Portland. The White House claims it needs to mobilize the National Guard in order to defend Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Portland, where small groups of protestors have been holding daily demonstrations outside of an ICE facility. 

The restraining order being overturned actually doesn’t mean that much. After the panel of judges decided 2-1 that Trump has the authority to send National Guard troops into Portland, a 9th Circuit judge formally requested a “vote on whether this case should be reheard” by a wider panel of judges. This means that we’re now even further from a decision as lawyers for the state of Oregon, the city of Portland, and the Trump White House all need to submit their arguments for why (or why not) a wider vote is necessary. Once those briefs are in, all 29 active judges on the 9th Circuit will need to vote on whether or not to re-hear the case.

While the Trump administration has characterized the situation in Portland as “War ravaged” and “under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists,” an assistant chief with the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) recently told the press that the protests at the ICE facility are much more peaceful than the White House wants you to believe. “In fact, on any given weekend,” he said, “the nightlife in Portland's entertainment district has warranted greater PPB resources than the small, nightly protests in front of the ICE facility.”

Japan’s First Lady… In Charge

• Early this morning, Japan’s parliament elected ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi to become the country’s first female prime minister. Her center-right Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) regained semi-control over the country’s legislature after striking a coalition deal with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party in a last-minute agreement. The LDP has slowly lost its hold on power over the past few years, and is looking to rejuvenate its decades-long reign by turning rightwards.

• Japan is pushing to get its political landscape in order before a critical period. The prime minister is set to make a speech later this week, Tokyo has scheduled talks with the Trump administration coming up, and a series of regional summits are also on the docket. “Political stability is essential right now,” Takaichi said on Monday. “Without stability, we cannot push measures for a strong economy or diplomacy.”

A Digging Deal In The Land Down Under

• On Monday, the U.S. and Australia signed a $8.5 billion rare-earth mineral trade deal. The deal is of particular interest right now because China’s government recently indicated that it will soon force foreign companies to get Beijing’s approval to buy rare-earth mineral products. While the new export rule would be similar to U.S. export controls on its advanced computer chips (which are explicitly used to keep Chinese companies from developing new AI capabilities), the Trump administration has accused China of trying to control the global tech supply chain.

• “In about a year from now we’ll have so much critical mineral and rare earth that you won’t know what to do with them,” said Trump after the deal was signed at the White House. “They’ll be worth $2.” Australia is already known for its strong mining industry and its wealth of critical minerals – the deal will see over $3 billion invested into improving Australia’s mining capabilities over the next six months, which could see the land down under become an even more important exporter of rare-earth minerals. Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also discussed AUKUS, a security pact with Australia, the U.S., and the U.K. during the meeting; Albanese noted that his country was satisfied with the defense pact, while Trump said he might update its terms at a later date.

More Mixed Nuts

• Ecuador says it has no evidence that survivor of US strike in Caribbean committed any crime (Politico)

• Canada Moves to Discourage Arctic Rivals as the Fabled Northwest Passage Opens Up (NYT, $)

• Palace likely to face questions about what it knew in Andrew scandal (BBC) 

• Israel says ceasefire and aid to resume after airstrikes kill 26 in Gaza (Reuters)

• At least 135 mutilated bodies of Palestinians had been held at notorious Israeli jail, say Gaza officials (Guardian)

• Toxic haze in Delhi despite 'green' Diwali (BBC)

Ingrassia’s Ignominy

• Last week, Politico published leaked text messages from a group of Young Republican leaders, revealing conversations full of homophobic, racist, and antisemitic slurs. This week, the publication leaked yet another set of offensive texts from a top Republican: Paul Ingrassia, Trump’s nominee to head the Office of Special Counsel. In his leaked texts, Ingrassia told a group of right-wing influencers and operatives that the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell,” and also admitted that he has “a Nazi streak.”

• “MLK Jr. was the 1960s George Floyd and his ‘holiday’ should be ended and tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs,” Ingrassia wrote last January. One month prior to that text, he also used an Italian slur for Black people, texting, “No moulignon holidays … From kwanza [sic] to mlk jr day to black history month to Juneteenth … Every single one needs to be eviscerated.”

• Ingrassia is currently working as the liaison to the United States Department of Homeland Security, and is scheduled to be confirmed as the head of the Office of Special Counsel on Thursday. The texts were leaked by one individual involved in the group chat who wants “the government to be staffed with experienced people who are taken seriously.” Another individual who participated in the group chat didn’t have receipts, but did confirm that they remembered a few of the messages.

No Kings And Millions Of Protestors

• On Saturday, over 7 million Americans participated in roughly 2,700 “No Kings” rallies across the nation, demonstrating against what organizers describe as Donal Trump’s “authoritarian” anti-democratic agenda. While the Trump administration has tried to paint the protests as the work of “violent left-wing radicals,” the demonstrations were almost totally peaceful besides a few incidents where counter-protestors incited clashes with “No Kings” demonstrators.

• “It seems to me, (Trump is) taking our government, our democracy, and dismantling it piece by piece, slowly, but surely, if we sit by and don’t do anything about it,” said one 70 year-old who joined a protest in Washington, D.C. “In this moment, in which we are seeing a president and an administration arrogating to himself power that doesn’t belong to him, our message is very clear,” said Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who spoke at the Atlanta protest. “This is not about the people in power, it’s about the power in the people.”

More Nuts In America

• Man who planned to shoot up Atlanta's airport is arrested in a terminal following a tip, police say (AP) 

• The White House starts demolishing part of the East Wing to build Trump's ballroom (NPR) 

• Amazon's Ring Cameras Push Deeper Into Police and Government Surveillance (CNET)

• US Marines probe firing of live artillery over California highway (Reuters)

• US Supreme Court to consider law barring illegal drug users from owning guns (BBC)

• Congressional Democrats Investigate Arrests of Americans During Raids (NYT, $)

A Hollywood Heist In Paris

• On Sunday, thieves stole a literal treasure trove of precious artifacts from the Louvre. Authorities say they’ve figured out their path, and the details sound like a Hollywood heist movie. At 9:30 a.m. local time, the group of four thieves first used a truck-mounted electric ladder (similar to one a maintenance team would use) to reach a balcony leading to the Apollo Gallery, a highly decorated wing of the museum that has housed the French Crown Jewels for centuries. 

• Using a set of power tools, including an angle grinder and a blowtorch, two of the thieves broke into the Apollo Gallery’s window, tripping the museum’s alarm system. The pair then threatened the gallery’s security guards with the tools; the guards did a quick cost-benefit analysis in their heads and ran from the danger. Using those same power tools (talk about efficiency!), the thieves broke into the French Crown Jewels’ display cases, grabbed what they could, and escaped via the balcony. According to authorities, they left the scene of the crime on a pair of scooters. The entire crime, from entry to exit, took a total of four minutes.

• The thieves took eight items from the Louvre, including: a tiara and brooch worn by Empress Eugénie (Napoleon III’s wife); an emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings worn by Empress Marie Louise; a tiara, necklace, and earring from a set of sapphire jewelry owned by Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense; and a “reliquary brooch.” Overall, the eight pieces of the Crown Jewels collection are adorned with thousands of precious gems, and authorities say they expect the thieves to melt them down to sell the individual gems for cash. As for the jewels being recovered, one French lawmaker told the press, “I think that the pieces are already abroad. I think it’s lost forever.”

More Loose Nuts

• The future I saw through the Meta Ray-Ban Display amazes and terrifies me (Verge)

• Life-changing eye implant helps blind patients read again (BBC)

• Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers Are a Sight to Behold (New Yorker, $)

• The Great Ghosting Paradox (Atlantic, $)

• 'Death fold' proteins can make cells self-destruct. Scientists want to control them (NPR)

• Kohler unveils a camera for your toilet (TechCrunch)

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