Third week at Senator Fetterman's office to persuade him to ask for a cease-fire in the war between Hamas and Israel.
28 Dec 2023
Third week at Senator Fetterman's office to persuade him to ask for a
cease-fire in the war between Hamas and Israel.
South Africa steps up! South Africa has filed a case
against Israel in the International Court of Justice, charging Israel
with the genocide of the Palestinian people! Palestinians have suffered
about 21k fatalities after being squeezed into a small area of the
already-overcrowded Gaza strip. Commenting on South Africa's case, a US
spokesperson, John Kirby, says:
“We find this submission meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.”
In response, the blogger says:
The US press is complicit with this outright denial of a monstrous
reality. It for the most part has not shown the US public the full
barbarity of the Israeli onslaught.
With conditions in Gaza serious and getting worse
("Cholera and gastroenteritis are rapidly spreading due to the
congested conditions in southern Gaza."), how's the America media doing
at covering the war there? Does CNN shape its Israel coverage according
to Israeli guidelines? A piece from Common Dreams argues that yes, they do.
There's been plenty of resistance to Israel's actions among American citizens. There will be a March on Washington DC on January 13th.
"Let me tell you, I'm not willing to do
too damn much right now to
help a Democrat and to help Joe Biden's approval rating," Nehls told
CNN. "I will not help the Democrats try to improve this man's dismal
approval ratings."
So essentially, some Republicans just don't see any electoal advantage in doing anything to help Democrats to achieve any nationally-important goals.
The Wall Street Journal‘s Yarislav Trofimov has a deep dive excerpt from his forthcoming book on what actually happened at the Istanbul peace talks in 2022.
These were talks between Russia and Ukraine. The US has been accused
of telling Ukraine to break off the "promising" talks. The piece makes
it clear that Ukraine broke off the talks itself because they were
clearly going nowhere. The blogger at Balloon Juice helpfully copies and highlights a big chunk of the Wall Street Journal piece so that we can read it.
Pretty sure I had heard of the legal philosophy of "Originalism" prior to the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Robert Bork, but I read his autobiography
a few years later, with it's thorough description, and defense, of
Originalism. Wasn't at all impressed. Several Supreme Court Justices
are today very strong advocates of Originalism. Problem is, Section 3
of the 14th Amendment is not at all fuzzy. It's quite clear. And
there's a detailed legislative history that clears up any confusions or
misperceptions. But the right-wingers on the court are going to want to
keep Trump on the ballot. The blogger goes into great detail as to why
that's a problem for them.
