Today is a day for outrage and anger. But also for determination, courage, and hope.
Today i24 Israeli television broadcast video showing Hamas terrorists taunting, beating, and torturing in various ways captive Israeli women. The “brave” Hamas fighters in the video were shown confronting the bound and helpless women and beating them mercilessly. The video soon went viral across the internet and one can only hope that enough people see the footage and at long last understand who Hamas truly are. But one should not hold one’s breath while one hopes.
Yesterday Ireland, Norway, and Spain announced that they were “recognizing” a Palestinian state. To which I can only ask, what Palestinian state? There may be a viable Palestinian state one day with a viable government that looks out for the true best interests of the Palestinian people, can live in peace with Israel, and is deserving of diplomatic recognition. Hopefully sooner rather than later. But Hamas sure as hell ain’t it. And neither is the present day Palestinian Authority. Hopefully. But neither am I holding my breath.
And in this country, today the politician I’ve been calling Moscow MAGA Mike Johnson shed the appellation “Moscow” as he called for allowing Ukraine to strike within Russian territory with U.S. provided weaponry. What MarjorieQ thinks of his change of heart I do not yet know. But for MAGA Mike, after holding up the delivery of desperately needed weapons from Ukraine for 6 months, it seems like the least he can do.
Aileen Cannon actually heard arguments on the defense’s efforts to have the Mar-a-Lago documents case tossed out today. Whether or when she will rule on the questions asked and arguments made today is anybody’s guess.
Sam Alito (yes, THAT Sam Alito) has a beach house on the Jersey shore. Apparently aside from idyllic summer weekends, he took advantage of having a second place to hang an inappropriate MAGA insurrection flag. Given his explanation for the first upside down flag (my wife did it), I can hardly wait for his excuse for the Pine Tree flag (Snooki did it?). On a more serious note, when an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States associates himself sympathetically with an insurrection designed to overthrow an election for President of the United States then that justice has placed himself in opposition to the Rule of Law and on the side of the authoritarian Fascists who want to destroy the Great American Experiment in Constitutional Democracy. That is a place where a justice of the Supreme Court should not be. In my mind Alito has one of two choices. Either abandon Fascism or resign from the Court. My prediction? He won’t do either. Nor will he recuse himself from any of the cases in which he’s in conflict. And John Roberts is too feckless to rein in either him or his buddy Clarence.
Also today Nikki Haley, who is no longer calling Donald John nuts, said she would be voting for him and that Joe Biden’s presidency has been a “catastrophe”. You will notice that when Republicans complain about the Biden administration, they don’t talk about burgeoning jobs, an under 4% unemployment rate, a booming stock market, wage increases, or decreasing inflation. That apparently leaves Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger as the only patriotic “true” Republicans.
But just because his trial was over for the week, the Liar-in-Chief wasn’t done. First he lied about why he didn’t testify in his trial. Then he even more dangerously lied about the instructions for the use of deadly force issued to the FBI agents who served the search warrants on Mar-a-Lago, claiming they were under orders to assassinate him. That they picked a time to serve the warrants when they knew he wouldn’t be there is lost on him.
Finally, if you haven’t heard the term “Unified Reich” as used in a Trump campaign ad, look it up. He is telling you both who and what he is. Who he is, is a tyrant wannabe. What he is, is a Fascist.
Then dedicate yourself to defeating him — legitimately of course — at the polls.
This is on my mind:
The truth is we should have already had or been close to a verdict in the federal prosecution brought by special counsel Jack Smith. That case concerns the conspiracy Trump allegedly orchestrated to manipulate the results of the 2020 presidential election, which culminated in the Jan. 6 insurrection. The Washington case had been set to begin in early March, and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg had expressed openness to postponing the New York case so the Washington one could go first. With the federal trial estimated to last eight to 12 weeks, it would most likely be done or wrapping up by now.
The reason that didn’t happen is that a majority on the court decided to delay the administration of justice by considering Trump’s outrageous presidential immunity argument. Trump argues that because he was president at the time of the alleged crimes, he is immune from prosecution in the case. But he doesn’t stop there: His lawyers have presented a shocking theory of presidential power that would render him immune even if he ordered SEAL Team Six to assassinate his political rivals (barring first being impeached and convicted, something that has never happened in American history).
In Trump v. Anderson, the case deciding whether Trump could remain on Colorado’s ballot as a presidential candidate despite the constitutional limits on insurrectionists’ holding office, the Supreme Court ruled in Trump’s favor just 25 days after oral arguments and just 61 days after he petitioned the court for review. It did so even though Trump remained on the ballot pending a decision. Tuesday marked 26 days after the court heard oral arguments, 99 days and counting since he appealed the unanimous D.C. Circuit ruling against him and 162 days and counting since the Justice Department originally asked it to take up the case. Yet there is no sign of a decision.