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March 2024

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The United States of Lawfare The Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling about ballot access is a major blow against distorting the legal system for partisan gain But there are big battles yet to come Charles Lipson

By on March 5th, 2024

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2024/03/04/donald-trump-supreme-court-colorado-ballot-us-election/

“Scarcely any question arises in the United States which does not become, sooner or later, a subject of judicial debate.” So Tocqueville wrote 200 years ago in what is still the greatest book about both America and democracy. His observation remains as true today as it was in the 1830s. It applies to the likely nominees of both political parties.

Most of attention has been devoted, quite rightly, to the mountain of legal problems facing former President Trump. But it is worth noting that the current occupant of the White House faces legal problems of his own. 

Joe Biden has been shown to possess classified documents without authorization and store them in insecure places, like his garage. The allegations were laid out in detail by Special Counsel Robert Hur, who declined to prosecute because President Biden was “elderly” and “forgetful” : hardly the sort of descriptors a presidental candidate would want to promote. 

Troubling as President Biden’s cognitive problems are, his legal issues are dwarfed by those facing former President Trump. The former president’s supporters and many independent voters see them a “lawfare,” the tendentious use of the legal system for political gain. His opponents see them as the even-handed rule of law.

What is striking about the cases pending against Trump is how they all came together in the midst of a presidential campaign. Surprise, surprise. Of course, the alleged crimes and civil violations occurred years ago.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

ICC Language Indicates Bias against Israel Moshe Phillips

By on March 5th, 2024

https://www.sdjewishworld.com/2024/03/03/icc-language-indicates-bias-against-israel/

The International Criminal Court is examining Israel’s policies in what it calls the “occupied Palestinian West Bank.” But how can the court possibly render a fair verdict when that very term is a complete and utter falsehood?

For as long as any of us can remember, the phrase “occupied Palestinian West Bank” has been a regular part of the vocabulary used by the media, as well as the political and diplomatic world. The fact that those words have been around for a long time doesn’t make them true.

Contemporary American English includes all sorts of names and phrases that don’t mean what they actually suggest. “French fries” are not French. “Koala bears” are not bears. “Driveways” are for parking, not driving—and parkways are the opposite. That’s all great fodder for stand-up comedians who specialize in observational humor.

But the way the terms “occupation,” “Palestinian” and “West Bank” are used is no joking matter.

“Occupation” was accurate for a short period of time. But Israel’s “occupation” of the territories in question ended long ago.

The Israelis first occupied those areas in self-defense during the Six-Day War in June 1967. Between 1993 and 1995, however, that occupation came to an end. It was replaced by an agreed-upon division of the region between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The Israelis withdrew from the parts where 98% of the Palestinian Arabs reside. There are no Israeli troops, no Israeli administration and no Israeli military governor there anymore. So who exactly is “occupying” it? The Palestinian Authority, of course.

The P.A. has its own armed troops (euphemistically called “security forces”), its own administration and its own governors. It runs the courts, the police, the schools, the news media and everything else that constitutes an occupation.

The only part of the area that Israel occupies is where Israelis reside. And that Israeli presence is stipulated by the Oslo Accords. Not that Israel’s right to the area is based on the Oslo agreement, of course. It’s based on 3,000-plus years of continuous Jewish inhabitation and many centuries of Jewish national sovereignty—not to mention international law and the Hebrew Bible. But the fact is that the P.A. agreed to it.

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ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Supreme Court 9, Lawfare 0 in the Trump Ballot Case A unanimous Court says Colorado can’t banish the former President.

By on March 5th, 2024

https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-v-anderson-supreme-court-opinion-9-0-colorado-ballot-presidential-election-7486b815?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision Monday restoring Donald Trump on Colorado’s presidential ballot is no surprise after the oral argument in Trump v. Anderson last month. But it’s still a landmark, and a victory for the Constitution and democracy over partisan lawfare.

The Justices overturned a 4-3 decision by the Colorado Supreme Court that invoked Section 3 of the post-Civil War 14th Amendment, which bars candidates from holding federal or state office if they have engaged in an “insurrection or rebellion.” An Illinois state judge and the Maine secretary of state have also ruled Mr. Trump ineligible, though other states have differed.

The High Court cleared up the confusion in robust fashion in an unsigned per curiam opinion that went to the heart of federal versus state power in determining the qualifications for candidates. Letting states enforce Section 3, the Court explains, would create a “patchwork” of electoral policies that would “‘sever the direct link that the Framers found so critical between the National Government and the people of the United States’ as a whole.”

“Conflicting state outcomes concerning the same candidate could result not just from differing views of the merits, but from variations in state law governing the proceedings,” the Court adds. “Some States might allow a Section 3 challenge to succeed based on a preponderance of the evidence, while others might require a heightened showing.”

This peril is particularly grave for the Presidency, which “represent[s] all the voters in the Nation,” the Court stresses. States could remove candidates at different times, which “could dramatically change the behavior of voters, parties and States.”

Imagine the uproar that would ensue if a judge or election official in a swing state disqualified Mr. Trump after he won the election. “Nothing in the Constitution requires that we endure such chaos—arriving at any time or different times, up to and perhaps beyond the Inauguration,” the Court writes.

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IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

New job for the Border Patrol: Shooting bandits By Monica Showalter

By on March 5th, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/03/new_job_for_border_patrol_shooting_bandits.html

A dirty, dangerous, job and the Border Patrol shouldn’t have to do it.

As if the Border Patrol doesn’t already have enough to do changing diapers and ‘processing’ tens of thousands of illegal border crossers to their destinations of choice in the U.S., now somebody’s got bandit duty.

According to Fox News:

Border patrol agents in California shot and killed a bandit who was robbing other migrants as they crossed into the U.S. from Mexico.

Multiple U.S. Customs and Border Protection sources confirmed that a criminal migrant who crossed the border in the San Diego sector was shot and killed by a member of the Border Patrol’s elite Border Patrol Tactical unit, or BORTAC, early Sunday morning.

The incident happened in a remote area where the bandits had been seen crossing into the U.S., robbing migrants and returning to Mexico.

Border Patrol agents responded to “bandit activity” on Sunday morning, when they came across a small group of bandits who were robbing migrants as they were walking to an area where migrants surrender to agents so they can be processed.

So, bandits are now becoming a problem at the border, a problem we didn’t have much of until Joe Biden opened the border.

It’s shocking stuff, pretty much like the Wild West now, except that banditry isn’t the only illegal thing going on at the U.S. border — the crossings themselves are illegal, but those doing it are viewed as now entitled to a safe illegal crossing, not an unsafe one, complete with security guards, still illegal as heck, though and more service with a smile.

Now, there wouldn’t be any bandit activity if there weren’t fat, juicy, easy targets for bandits to rob to begin with. Bandits could just as easily rob people in cities and plenty of them do. But they know that most designer-dud-clad illegal migrants, some with suitcases, carry a lot of money. And so long as those illegal crossings continue and migrants know that if they can get in, they can stay, the bandit harvestings will be ample.

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ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

The Latest Despicable Anti-Israel Lie The libels become canonized before the truth even gets out of bed. by Michael Brown

By on March 5th, 2024

https://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbrown/2024/03/02/the-latest-despicable-anti-israel-lie-n2635984

According to a quote widely attributed to Winston Churchill, “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” This is absolutely true when it comes to reporting about Israel, except even more so. We could say that anti-Israel lies become canonized, even becoming part of sacred religious lore, before the truth even gets out of bed.

This will now be the case with the lie that the IDF massacred more than 100 Gazan civilians trying to get desperately needed food supplies.

So, not only do the Israelis cruelly and inhumanly starve these Gazans to death, but they cynically send in limited numbers of food trucks and then massacre the starving masses trying to get food for themselves and their families.

Before sharing what really happened in Gaza this week – and it is quite tragic – and without minimizing for a moment the very real suffering of the people of Gaza, let me share with you an Instagram post commenting on the event shortly after it took place. (I’m not linking to the comment since I have no desire to draw attention to the individual who posted it for quite a few reasons. It was sent to me by a pro-Israel pastor.)

“Israeli tanks and snipers MASSACRED over 100 starving, defenseless Palestinian refugees and injured over 700 more this morning while they were waiting for trucks to deliver food and other humanitarian aid. It is indisputable that this is a war crime atrocity of epic proportions by the genocidal sociopaths who run Israel’s current government and the IDF.

“The most disturbing part is that American Christian Zionists will support it – even CELEBRATE it . . . .” (The post gets even worse after this, repeating some of the more ridiculous antisemitic libels of the day.)

So, Israeli tanks and snipers carried out an intentional massacre of more than 100 starving and defenseless refugees, something that will now be celebrated by American Christian Zionists.

Yes, these “brainwashed” Christians (to use a word found later in this same post), it’s as if their sentiments will be, “Way to go Israel! Slaughter and butcher those defenseless Palestinians! God bless you, Israel! Kill them all in Jesus’ name!”

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IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

Migrant Surge Brings Killers and Criminal Gangs And the Dems’ “sanctuary city” policies make the danger worse. by Betsy McCaughey

By on March 5th, 2024

https://www.frontpagemag.com/migrant-surge-brings-killers-and-criminal-gangs/

Former New York City Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly, the department’s longest-serving commissioner, cautioned on Sunday that New York City’s quality of life “has really deteriorated.” Migrant crime is a major reason.

Venezuela’s notorious Tren de Aragua gang and El Salvador’s feared MS-13 — what former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker calls “prison-spawned gangs” — are threatening to take over American cities. They bring “mindless knuckle-dragging violence,” warns Swecker. They’re the “most dangerous gangs on the planet.”

Swecker speculates that countries are emptying their prisons deliberately. Gang leaders setting up crime rings in the U.S. “come out of the muck and the slime of the South American prisons.”

While law enforcement officials here are warning us about the collapse of public safety, left-wing pols deny there’s a problem. Ana Maria Archila, co-director of New York’s Working Families Party, calls the “chaos and insecurity” people are feeling a “false sense.” She blames it on racism and xenophobia, not reality. Open your eyes, Ms. Archila.

Public safety is visibly spiraling downward: migrants beating cops in Times Square; migrants running prostitution rings; migrants on mopeds robbing pedestrians; migrants shoplifting and stripping retail stores; and now a migrant who recently left New York has been arrested for killing a Georgia nursing student, Laken Riley. Not everyone violating the border is a hardened criminal, but President Joe Biden’s open borders are allowing the worst to get in.

When Mayor Eric Adams was asked on Feb. 20 about stabbing incidents and violence against cops at the Randall’s Island shelter, Adams said that “even the most peaceful person — being confined to an area with 3,000 people … there comes a time where it just irritates you.”

“Irritates”? Adams is downplaying a serious threat.

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ELECTIONS Comments turned off

NY Times Poll Shock: 73 Percent Say Biden ‘Too Old’ for Presidency

By on March 5th, 2024

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/joe-biden-old-ny-times/2024/03/03/id/1155760/

A shocking new Siena College poll released by The New York Times revealed an overwhelming majority — 73% — of Americans say Biden is “too old to be an effective president” and that included even 61% of his 2020 voters.

The Times’ glaring headline warned the polling results were a “grave threat” for his reelection. Former President Donald Trump trolled the Times and Biden for the results in his Saturday night campaign rally in Richmond, Virginia.

“I’m running for president and leading big in all the polls,” Trump told his rally, which aired live and in its entirety on Newsmax. “I mean, when The New York Times has this front page story tomorrow — you’ll see, it just came out — Trump is killing this guy.

“They’re not happy. I guess, maybe they are happy. I mean, frankly, they did the best they’ve ever done four years of Trump. They were doing much better than they do right now.”

But Biden is not doing better even with his voters, the Times noted Sunday morning as Trump predicted.

“The survey pointed to a fundamental shift in how voters who backed Mr. Biden four years ago have come to see him,” according to the Times analysis. “A striking 61% said they thought he was ‘just too old’ to be an effective president.”

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Are DEI And ESG Finally Going MIA?

By on March 5th, 2024

https://issuesinsights.com/2024/03/05/are-dei-and-esg-finally-going-mia/

The efforts by government, captured institutions and radical activists to manipulate and menace can feel like an endless loop. But is it possible we’ve turned a corner, or at least nearing one that we can take? Recent events suggest so.

The flagship institution of higher education in the red state of Florida is shutting down its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) office. The University of Florida is ridding itself of the malign chief diversity officer position, sacking the program’s useless staff, and is also “halting any contracts involving the subject,” the Associated Press reports. 

What a welcome development, thanks to a bill passed and signed last year that forbids schools from using state and federal funds to support discriminatory initiatives.

Writing earlier this year for I&I, Andrew I. Fillat and Henry I. Miller identified “DEI theology” as a movement that has warped universities’ moral compasses.

“These often improbably huge campus bureaucracies are the engine of sheltering and groupthink. DEI offers ‘protection’ in the form of tribalization – the perfect growth medium for prejudice and alienation – and a hair trigger for any perceived slight, insult, or anything deemed exclusionary.” 

In one of many egregious instances of DEI indoctrination, every student-athlete at North Carolina’s Davidson College was required to watch “I’m Not Racist, Am I?” which, yes, Glenn Reynolds, does sound “like a hostile educational environment on account of race.”

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Iran’s Oil Funds Genocide by Lawrence Kadish

By on March 5th, 2024

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20458/iran-oil-funds-genocide

History is filled with the terrible retribution inflicted on America’s foes when those enemies underestimate the United States.

Consider Imperial Japan, which totally underestimated the United States. Hitler thought we could manufacture cars but never have the ability to produce tanks, an air force, a two-ocean navy and the willpower to fight and win. The Soviets told the West: “We will bury you.” And Osama Bin Laden’s ashes will never be found.

So when US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warns Iran that their role in supporting the terrorist murder of some 1,400 Israelis by Hamas has the potential to result in immensely serious “consequences,” he is attempting to ensure that Tehran does not make the fatal mistake of underestimating the United States.

Looking on the surface, it might be easy to do so. Japan saw that the U.S. Congress debated and delayed for months before finally instituting a military draft in 1940. Hitler saw the American-based Nazi Bund convene a rally at Madison Square Garden. We currently have a president whose ability and political will have openly been questioned. The House of Representatives is in disarray. We are facing a multi-trillion dollar debt. Surely we must be distracted and incapable of action.

All the more reason that Graham’s warning, which included “tak[ing] down an oil refinery” for every hostage killed. “The only way you’re gonna keep this war from escalating is to hold Iran accountable,” Graham recently stated.

On October 22, Graham said: “We’re here today to tell Iran: We’re watching you. If this war grows, it’s coming to your backyard.” And to make a point, he made that statement from Tel Aviv, as part of a delegation of ten U.S. Senators. “There won’t be two fronts, there’ll be three,” he added, allowing the recipient of that message to ponder what and where that third military front would be.

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