Good morning from my office nestled between two stadiums in Seattle. It is the last day of Two Thousand Twenty-Three. I do not plan on being awake for the transition.
There is a game today, so this place is going to be busy. It’s the last Seahawks game of the season so there is sure to be a HUGE crowd around here.
Headlines That Caught My Eye
Item 1: Supreme Court Faces ‘Ironclad’ Argument in Trump Colorado Case: Strategist
Considering that the current Court of Supreme Robe majority tends to rely on “originalist” and “textualist” arguments in their most recent landmark rulings such as when they overturned Roe, or determined that the Voting Rights Act wasn’t something that was originally considered several hundred years ago, they are going to have a dickens of a time trying to worm their way around these same arguments that Colorado and Maine used.
Item 2: Another Texas county declares invasion after judge’s family members killed
Once again, this is the sole responsibility of CONGRESS to address. Congress, while under control of both parties has continually chosen to kick this can down the road for some future Congress to deal with. Meanwhile, the Executive Branch can only work within the framework of the law. Courts have been steadily turning back these Executive Orders that various presidents have used to try and get a handle on the growing migration problems.
Any migration legislation that doesn’t include foreign aid to the source countries these migrants come from, will fail.
Item 3: Republicans Have a Great Chance to Retake the Senate in 2024*
*But they did in 2022, too — abortion access, economy and Trump’s legal troubles are seen as unpredictable factors
I think it’s the abortion issue that will create the greatest problems for Republicans. The economy is doing fine, and Trump is only pulling the party down.
Item 4: IDF finds Chinese weapons used in Gaza – report
“China has an extensive arms industry,” an expert on China-Israel relations said. “By definition, it does not sell weapons to non-state entities.”
So how is Hamas getting these weapons?
Item 5: Where Was the Israeli Military?
This is the $64 thousand dollar question that is sure to be asked again once this conflict is over.
The cynical part of me suspects that Israel knew this was coming, and needed a diversion from the civil unrest it had been facing all summer over Netanyahu’s attempt to neuter the justice and court system so that he could escape from under the fraud, bribery, and breach of trust charges that have been hanging over his head for several years now.
Item 6: Ukraine Faces Growing Calls From US to Cede Land to Russia
Ohio Senator J.D. Vance is not the “US”, and I find it pretty fucking amazing that a fucknozzle like him can be so cavalier about the some other nation ceding it’s territory over to Russia. I can remember a time, way back when, — like prior to 2016 — when you would never find a Republican siding with a dictator who wishes to reconstitute the former Soviet Union. My, how far the Republican party has drifted towards un-American policy…
Item 7: Meet America’s Newest Oil Trader Extraordinaire: Joe Biden
Bwah ha ha ha ha! Unlike Trump and his “Dictator for a Day” routine where he says he wants to “pump pump pump”, the US is now pumping more oil than any of the other oil producing nations of OPEC.
Item 8: President Clinton, Prince Andrew expected to be named in unsealed Jeffrey Epstein docs
Okay, those would be Shitstain #1 and Shitstain #2 and there are only 175 more names to go. Brace yourselves, because Trump is also on that list, as are numerous congresscritters and even a handful of billionaires like Bill Gates.
What the Fuck Did I Just Stream?
That’s a damn good question. What the fuck was that, anyways? Whatever it was, it was so boring that I literally fell asleep shortly after starting it. I woke up in my lazy boy chair around midnight and went to bed.
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I’ll admit that I’m easily confused, however… removing Trump as a candidate because he fomented insurrection?
As far as I know, Trump has not been charged with, let alone convicted of insurrection. Are we living in Wonderland? “Let the jury consider their verdict,” the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.
“No, no!” said the Queen. “Sentence first—verdict afterwards.”
The jury has not even been convened, yet here the Colorado and Maine governments are acting as the Queen of Hearts did.
Yes, the Constitution is pretty damn clear on this: Any person under oath of office who incites and/or participates in an act of insurrection is barred by Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment from running or holding office.
There is no requirement for a charge and/or conviction.
Both Colorado and Maine had due process in making their determination. Colorado went through the courts, and the Maine SecState held a hearing where Trump’s lawyers were asked to show cause why Trump shouldn’t be banned from the ballot in Maine. They chose to ignore that demand.
Given the fact that this is uncharted legal territory, obviously the Supreme Robes will eventually have to deal with this mess. How they will decide is anyone’s guess, which is why I made the comments above that I did.
Interesting, that you happily throw out the concept of innocent until proven guilty. Are you dodging the idea, or did it simply not occur to you? Either way, not a good look.
I’m just going with the plain-reading of the US Constitution.
There is nothing in it requiring an arrest and/or conviction for insurrection, only that it happened.
Like I said, this Section is considered to be ‘self-executing’ in the sense that it doesn’t take an affirmative action to ban a person from the ballot, just like the requirements that a person be a naturally-born citizen of at least 35 years of age to be POTUS.
In case you didn’t notice, both Colorado, and Maine made the decision in a due process hearing, where facts were presented and Trump’s attorneys were given the opportunity to respond.
In the case of Colorado, where a lawsuit was brought, an actual court hearing was held and a legal determination was made. Trump appealed it to the Colorado Supreme Court where it was upheld.
In the case of Maine, the SecState held a due process hearing where Trump’s attorneys were noticed and given the opportunity to present evidence, and they chose not to show up.
There are at least a dozen other states that have their various methods of managing the ballots for that state. Understand that the STATES decide who can or cannot be on the ballot, not the federal government. The Supreme Robes can — and most likely will — make their opinions known.
My reason for even posting the headline to begin with because I more than interested in seeing how the court ties itself up into knots trying to overturn these bans and still keep a straight face on their “originalism” and “textualism” routines. That will be VERY fun to watch.
It doesn’t need to be said, this is (or rather, was) the foundation of our legal system. Innocent until proven guilty. It’s been getting chipped away steadily during my lifetime, so I suppose it shouldn’t be a big surprise.
It will indeed be interesting to watch how things play out. It looks like Trump may be the first major presidential candidate not on the ballot in multiple states since… Lincoln.
Ah yes, the ol’ “innocent until proven guilty” routine.
You are aware that is only valid in cases before a US court of law, don’t you?
In real life, outside of the courtroom, there is no such thing. How many times have you read a news story of some crime and the alleged perpetrator was arrested, and your immediate opinion was that “this guy is guilty”?
There are people right here on this site who honestly believe that Joe Biden is guilty of crimes. It doesn’t matter that there isn’t any tangible evidence to support a conviction in a court of law.
It’s only in a courtroom does the “innocent until proven guilty” means anything, and that’s only during a trial.
The cops believe the perp is guilty. The prosecution does also. In most cases, even the defense attorney believes the client is guilty.
What you seem to be missing in this thing is the fact that before one of these states made a move to ban Trump from the ballot, they held a due-process hearing where both sides were allowed to testify and provide evidence to support their case.
The states made their decision, and with due process, those decisions are appealable. Trump has done just that with Colorado, and I believe he’s also appealed the Maine decision.
So there was a “trial” of sorts, where a finding of fact was reached, along with the penalty, in this case a ban from the ballot.
As usual, you’ve got it ass backwards when it comes to Netanyahu and Israel. It’s not just him who wants the Supreme Court changed, the whole Knesset does. This Supreme Court thinks it has the right to rewrite laws and make policy. No, Parliament does.
As for the charges against Netanyahu – what, that he and his wife received gifts of cigars, that he gave an interview to a media company in return for favorable coverage – really that’s nothing different from all politicians. It’s not like getting $20 million from China. Or millions from Ukraine. But that’s ok with you, cause Biden is a “liberal” who loves the KKK.
You have Netanyahu Derangement Syndrome.
UPDATED 1/1/2024 @ 14:15
Remember when I accused you of not paying attention to what’s been happening in Israel for the past year? This is another PRIME example that you haven’t been paying attention.
You probably never realized that a LARGE percentage of Israelis are completely against Netanyahu’s attempt to neuter the Judicial. Since this time last year, HUNDREDS of thousands of Israelis took to the streets to protest. But you were too busy posting shit about Hunter Biden’s penis. Would you like to actually LEARN something?
Then there is this today from the Israeli Supreme Court:
Israel’s Supreme Court overturns a key component of Netanyahu’s polarizing judicial overhaul
Are you going to now whine and moan about the Israeli Court as if you were an expert in law? Be sure to READ the article. It might catch you up on all the stuff you were missing when you were focused on Hunter Biden. You MIGHT even start to realize that maybe, just maybe Netanyahu might have deliberately ignored the rattling going on with Hamas so that there would be a REASON to commit genocide.
Make no mistake, woman, there IS a genocide going on in Gaza right now whether you care or not. (and I know you don’t, you’ve as much as said so). Funny thing is, Israel, unlike the US, is a signatory to the World Court in the Hague, and right now there are charges being filed against Netanyahu in the International Court of Justice for genocide.
Don’t shoot the messenger here, I’m just filling you in on the stuff that you have OBVIOUSLY overlooked.
Is that what you think? That is was a handful of cigars in exchange for favorable coverage?
TRY TWO HUNDERED THOUSAND DOLLARS WORTH OF CIGARS, CHAMPAGNE and JEWELRY.
That’s right, it wasn’t a few cigars, and it wasn’t just for ‘favorable coverage’. He was also being bribed to pass legislation that included tax exemptions for returning residents. He also was being bribed to try and obtain a US Via for Aaron Milchan, and Israeli businessman and filmaker. But that’s just Case 1000. There are four cases against Netanyahu and this is what has hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens upset enough to fill the streets with protests throughout most of the Summer, while you were focusing on Hunter’s crotch.
Want to see all four cases against Netanyahu?
This would be in violation of Israeli law. Granted, it happened over a period of twenty years, but this involves much more than a couple of hundred bucks worth of cigars. $195k is a fairly large amount of money, and if it had been Joe Biden, you’d be losing your fucking mind right now.
Something of value was offered in exchange for something favorable to the person paying. In this case Arnon Moses offered good press coverage for Netanyahu and bad press coverage for Netanyahu’s opponents IN EXCHANGE FOR legislation that would impose restrictions on Israel Hayom and bring significant financial benefits to Mozes and his businesses. Again, against the law in Israel, as well as here in the US.
There is that word, “exchange” again. Netanyahu had promised regulatory changes that would be favorable to the business interests of Shaul Elovitch, the owner of Bezeq, in exchange for positive coverage of Netanyahu and his family by Elovitch’s news website.
So you see, this isn’t just a case of getting favorable press — these people wanted much more from Netanyahu in the way of influencing legislation for personal items of value.
Your lack of moral clarity is disturbing. Your knowledge is superficial at best, and divorced of reality at worst.
By the Numbers:
https://actforamerica.substack.com/p/the-myth-of-gazas-innocent-civilians
You can try to curry favor with them, but it won’t work. The only language they understand is force.
I want you to imagine that Joe Biden has ordered the military to bomb the shit out of New York state. You certainly weren’t anti-American before they stated indescriminate bombing in and around your neighborhood, but you are certainly going to be pretty pissed off with America while they are bombing you into oblivion.
This is why a large number of Palestinians are currently ‘pro-Hamas’. If Israel weren’t bombing the complete dogshit out of them, leveling their homes and buildings and literally salting the earth so that nothing will grow as they flood the tunnels with sea water.
Here’s some cold, hard facts and reality for you:
You and I can argue until the fucking cows come home as to what Israel should do about the Palestinian problem, but at the end of the day, it’s really not on us to decide.
This is something that Israel and the Palestinians are going to have to figure out, and until that happens, we will continue to be arguing about this shit.
But one thing has been proven over and over again: You can bomb the shit out of the Palestinians, and all you will do is create yet another generation of fighters. We saw it with the PLO and all the other fighting organizations that have come and gone over the past eighty years or so, and we will see it again after this one is over.
If you can’t wrap your tiny little mind around that, then there’s no hope for you.
Excellent summary of 2023
https://www.frontpagemag.com/a-reckoning-approaches/
Here’ something for YOUR TINY LITTLE MIND.
Yes, digest it with your tiny little mind
I know it is the nature of today’s MAGA Republicans not to respect the fucking LAWS, but for fuck’s sake, stupid, this is a law you are going to follow here or I will just continue to cut your shit down until I get tired and block your silly ass.
When you start up your own blog, then you can violate copyright laws to your little heart’s content. Who knows, you might get away with it for a few months or so, but eventually the Cease and Desist letters will start showing up in your mail box and the host will simply shut the site down as whoever’s copyright you violated decides whether to take your silly ass to court.
HINT: It’s happened here before.
I told you the way you can legally post EXCERPTS from other sources without first getting their written permission, but like everything else, Judy knows better.
Well, I’m here to tell you that you don’t.
Post an excerpt, using it as a reference for your own comment in your own words. The excerpted material should NEVER be larger than your own comment.
This isn’t hard — for most people — to follow. YOU, on the other hand seem determined to get yourself banned from here.
The alternative is that I shut this site down altogether and let Misha fire it back up if and when he gets the time and desire to post here again.
You’ve got to understand, I am NOT going to put Misha in a situation where it cost him time and money because of your ignorance and stubbornness to follow simple fucking rules. But then, you are a MAGA Trumpublican which explains why you don’t want to follow basic rules.