March 2024 – Page 2 – Irregular Bullshit

As weird as it all got about Texas’ immigration law, I think Chris Geidner (the “Law Dork”) thinks the law will be overturned in the end

March 20, 2024benfell

Illiberalism

Gilead

Migration

Fig. 1. Photograph credited to “ProtoplasmaKid,”, November 9, 2018, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

So I finally broke down and read Chris Geidner on all this. To be honest, I don’t feel I have any better understanding than I did, though he does go into this weird administrative stay shit. From the sound of it, I think he thinks the Texas law will ultimately be overturned.^[1]

Devan Cole and John Fritze, “Supreme Court blocks Texas from enforcing controversial immigration law for now,” CNN, March 18, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/18/politics/supreme-court-texas-immigration-sb4/index.html

John Fritze, “Supreme Court allows Texas to begin enforcing controversial immigration law,” CNN, March 19, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/19/politics/supreme-court-allows-texas-to-begin-enforcing-controversial-immigration-law/index.html

Ann E. Marimow and Arelis R. Hernández, “Appeals court again blocks Texas from arresting and deporting migrants,” Washington Post, March 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/19/supreme-court-texas-immigration-law/

Chris Geidner, “Texas’s S.B. 4 immigration enforcement law appears likely to remain on hold for now,” Law Dork, March 20, 2024, https://www.lawdork.com/p/texass-sb-4-immigration-enforcement

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

2024

Fig. 1. Cartoon by Ben Jennings, January 24, 2024, via the Guardian,^[2] fair use.

Can we just skip ahead to the end of this story?

Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein, “‘Very, very troubling’: Judges, lawyers flummoxed by Judge Cannon,” Washington Post, March 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/20/trump-cannon-judge-pra-jury-instructions/

^[1]Chris Geidner, “Texas’s S.B. 4 immigration enforcement law appears likely to remain on hold for now,” Law Dork, March 20, 2024, https://www.lawdork.com/p/texass-sb-4-immigration-enforcement ↩
^[2]Ben Jennings, “Ben Jennings on Donald Trump’s progress along the Republican nomination trail – cartoon,” Guardian, January 24, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/jan/24/ben-jennings-on-donald-trumps-progress-along-the-republican-nomination-trail-cartoon ↩

Are you getting whiplash from the judicial back-and-forth on Texas’ migration law? I am. I very definitely am.

March 20, 2024March 20, 2024benfell

Illiberalism

Gilead

Migration

Fig. 1. Photograph credited to “ProtoplasmaKid,”, November 9, 2018, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Somehow, the story keeps changing from one day to the next.^[1] I can’t claim to understand what the fuck is happening, but as the state of knowledge progresses, scientists occasionally reconsider previously held conclusions in what’s called a “scientific reversal.”

Within science, this is a good thing. Of course, we should revise conclusions that don’t hold up as new evidence appears. But doing so is fodder for opponents who insist scientists don’t have any idea what we’re talking about.

I don’t know if all these judicial reversals are so high-minded. I don’t know if there’s even a logic to them. But I have to think these reversals are discrediting.

Donald Trump

Fig. 2. Donald Trump, depicted in an orange jumpsuit, reportedly by the Drudge, date unknown, via Mediaite,^[2] fair use. Apparently, no mugshot was taken when he was actually arrested over hush money paid to Stormy Daniels.^[3]

Michael Kranish, “Shadowing Trump’s attacks on mental fitness — his own father’s dementia,” Washington Post, March 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/20/donald-trump-dementia-father-fred-alzheimers-biden/

Finances

Fig. 3. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

In their court filing, [Donald] Trump’s lawyers said that the Trump Organization had worked with four insurance brokers and approached thirty companies that provide bonds, but none of them had agreed to supply one for the [Letitia] James case. In a statement accompanying the filing, Gary Giulietti, a senior executive at one of the brokers that had worked with the Trump Organization, Lockton, said that only a handful of insurance companies were approved by the Treasury Department to underwrite bonds of the size that Trump requires, and “none of these sureties will accept hard assets such as real estate as collateral. Instead, they will only accept cash or cash equivalents (such as marketable securities).” In another statement filed with the court, Alan Garten, the general counsel for the Trump Organization, said that Chubb, a big insurance company, had originally agreed to consider accepting a mixture of liquid assets and real estate as collateral for a bond, but within the past week it had notified the defendants that “it could not accept real estate as collateral.”^[4]

Defendants’ argument that obtaining a full bond is purportedly impossible is based on the false premise that they must obtain a single bond from a single surety for the entire judgment amount of $464 million.^[5]

They could, supposedly, piece together multiple smaller bonds.^[6] And my guess is that’s what they’ll do, miraculously, right before the Monday deadline.

This is a pain game. How painful is this going to be for him to do it?^[7]

James Fanelli and Corinne Ramey, “Trump Says He Can’t Secure Bond for $454 Million Civil-Fraud Judgment,” Wall Street Journal, March 18, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/trump-cant-secure-bond-for-454-million-civil-fraud-judgment-6c6fb7f1

Tori Otten, “Broke Donald Trump Admits He Can’t Post That Massive $464 Million Bond,” New Republic, March 18, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179901/trump-cant-secure-fraud-bond

Adam Reiss and Dareh Gregorian, “Trump has been unable to get bond for $464 million judgment, his lawyers say,” NBC News, March 18, 2024, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-unable-get-bond-464-million-judgment-lawyers-say-rcna143860

Matt Stieb, “Trump Says He Can’t Pay His $464 Million Bond. Now What?” New York, March 18, 2024, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-says-he-cant-find-a-usd464-million-bond-now-what.html

John Cassidy, “A Financial Reckoning for Donald Trump,” New Yorker, March 19, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/a-financial-reckoning-for-donald-trump

Joshua Chaffin, “NY attorney-general rejects Donald Trump’s pleas for leniency over $464mn bond,” Financial Times, March 20, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/1237571f-56d4-4248-bafd-c0ed44e21ff8

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh

Century III Mall

Fig. 4. “The exterior of the closed Century III Mall taken from a drone . . . in West Mifflin.” Photograph by Benjamin B. Braun, May 11, 2023, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,^[8] fair use.

Neena Hagen, “After years of frustration, the demolition of Century III Mall could begin next week,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 20, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2024/03/19/century-iii-moonbeam-demolition-wet-mifflin/stories/202403190110

^[1]Devan Cole and John Fritze, “Supreme Court blocks Texas from enforcing controversial immigration law for now,” CNN, March 18, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/18/politics/supreme-court-texas-immigration-sb4/index.html; John Fritze, “Supreme Court allows Texas to begin enforcing controversial immigration law,” CNN, March 19, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/19/politics/supreme-court-allows-texas-to-begin-enforcing-controversial-immigration-law/index.html; Ann E. Marimow and Arelis R. Hernández, “Appeals court again blocks Texas from arresting and deporting migrants,” Washington Post, March 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/19/supreme-court-texas-immigration-law/↩
^[2]Alex Griffing, “Drudge Puts Trump in an Orange Jumpsuit as Site Monitors His Potential Indictment,” Mediaite, August 29, 2022, https://www.mediaite.com/news/drudge-puts-trump-in-an-orange-jumpsuit-as-site-monitors-his-potential-indictment/↩
^[3]Sarah D. Wire and Alexandra E. Petri, “Trump charged with 34 felony counts in alleged hush money cover-up case,” Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-04-04/donald-trump-alleged-hush-money-investigation-indictment-arraignment ↩
^[4]John Cassidy, “A Financial Reckoning for Donald Trump,” New Yorker, March 19, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/a-financial-reckoning-for-donald-trump ↩
^[5]Dennis Fan, quoted in Joshua Chaffin, “NY attorney-general rejects Donald Trump’s pleas for leniency over $464mn bond,” Financial Times, March 20, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/1237571f-56d4-4248-bafd-c0ed44e21ff8 ↩
^[6]Joshua Chaffin, “NY attorney-general rejects Donald Trump’s pleas for leniency over $464mn bond,” Financial Times, March 20, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/1237571f-56d4-4248-bafd-c0ed44e21ff8 ↩
^[7]Unnamed broker, quoted in Joshua Chaffin, “NY attorney-general rejects Donald Trump’s pleas for leniency over $464mn bond,” Financial Times, March 20, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/1237571f-56d4-4248-bafd-c0ed44e21ff8 ↩
^[8]Neena Hagen, “The fall of the Century: Once a retail shopping jewel, the West Mifflin mall has been left to rot,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 21, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2023/05/21/centuryiii-west-mifflin-mall-slag-heap-kaufmanns-sears-police-closed-crime/stories/202305210039 ↩

If Donald Trump can’t make the bond, can he still appeal the fraud judgment?

March 19, 2024benfell

Illiberalism

Gilead

Donald Trump

Finances

Fig. 1. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

I’m probably not understanding correctly, but I thought that Donald Trump’s ability to appeal the fraud judgment hinged on his posting the bond. He’s now admitting he can’t post the bond.^[1] So does that mean he can’t appeal the fraud judgment?

The Wall Street Journal article^[2] here is probably the most informative.

Tori Otten, “Broke Donald Trump Admits He Can’t Post That Massive $464 Million Bond,” New Republic, March 18, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179901/trump-cant-secure-fraud-bond

Coup attempt

2024

Fig. 2. Cartoon by Ben Jennings, January 24, 2024, via the Guardian,^[3] fair use.

On Monday [March 18], the nation’s conservative-majority high court upheld a ban preventing former New Mexico official Couy Griffin from running for office within the state again due to his specific criminal history: In 2022, Griffin was convicted on misdemeanor offenses for his role in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, ultimately costing him his job as county commissioner.

It’s the Supreme Court’s first decision on the Fourteenth Amendment since it axed a Colorado decision earlier this month to keep Trump off the state’s GOP presidential primary ballot, and the first time that the “insurrectionist clause” has been used to bar someone from office since it was created to keep ex-Confederates from reattaining high office following the Civil War. By allowing the Fourteenth Amendment to be used against Griffin, the Supreme Court seems to have, circuitously, deemed the January 6 riot an insurrection.^[4]

Jon Allsop, “Context collapse,” Columbia Journalism Review, March 18, 2024, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/trump_ohio_speech_bloodbath_media_broadcast_live.php

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, “Supreme Court Upholds Insurrection Ban on Official Who’s Not Trump,” New Republic, March 18, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179895/supreme-court-insurrection-ban-january-6-rioter-new-mexico

Migration

Fig. 1. Photograph credited to “ProtoplasmaKid,”, November 9, 2018, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

^[1]James Fanelli and Corinne Ramey, “Trump Says He Can’t Secure Bond for $454 Million Civil-Fraud Judgment,” Wall Street Journal, March 18, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/trump-cant-secure-bond-for-454-million-civil-fraud-judgment-6c6fb7f1; Tori Otten, “Broke Donald Trump Admits He Can’t Post That Massive $464 Million Bond,” New Republic, March 18, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179901/trump-cant-secure-fraud-bond; Adam Reiss and Dareh Gregorian, “Trump has been unable to get bond for $464 million judgment, his lawyers say,” NBC News, March 18, 2024, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-unable-get-bond-464-million-judgment-lawyers-say-rcna143860; Matt Stieb, “Trump Says He Can’t Pay His $464 Million Bond. Now What?” New York, March 18, 2024, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-says-he-cant-find-a-usd464-million-bond-now-what.html ↩
^[2]James Fanelli and Corinne Ramey, “Trump Says He Can’t Secure Bond for $454 Million Civil-Fraud Judgment,” Wall Street Journal, March 18, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/trump-cant-secure-bond-for-454-million-civil-fraud-judgment-6c6fb7f1 ↩
^[3]Ben Jennings, “Ben Jennings on Donald Trump’s progress along the Republican nomination trail – cartoon,” Guardian, January 24, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/jan/24/ben-jennings-on-donald-trumps-progress-along-the-republican-nomination-trail-cartoon ↩
^[4]Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, “Supreme Court Upholds Insurrection Ban on Official Who’s Not Trump,” New Republic, March 18, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179895/supreme-court-insurrection-ban-january-6-rioter-new-mexico ↩

Donald Trump is failing to post bond for fraud case appeal

March 18, 2024benfell

Illiberalism

Fig. 1. Photograph by Joachim F. Thurn, August 1991, Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F089030-0003, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE.

Eva Hartog, “Putin may be the biggest dupe of his fake election landslide,” Politico, March 17, 2024, https://www.politico.eu/article/russian-election-vladimir-putin-fake-legitimacy-moscow-ukraine/

Ishaan Tharoor, “Russia’s farce election sums up a grim moment in global democracy,” Washington Post, March 18, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/03/18/global-democracy-russia-election-backslide-autocracy/

Gilead

Donald Trump

Fig. 2. Donald Trump, depicted in an orange jumpsuit, reportedly by the Drudge, date unknown, via Mediaite,^[1] fair use. Apparently, no mugshot was taken when he was actually arrested over hush money paid to Stormy Daniels.^[2]

The to-do over [Donald] Trump’s remark [threatening a “bloodbath” (possibly economic) if he is not elected] can be seen as the latest installment in the debate (which we’ve covered often here at [Columbia Journalism Review]) as to how the media ought to handle his rhetoric, given its frequent violence and dishonesty. Nearly a decade after Trump rode down the escalator, it is a debate that media outlets have still yet to resolve. Even before the Ohio rally, it reared its head again last week. Various media critics took CNBC to task for hosting a rambling phone-in interview with Trump without sufficiently pushing back on his talking points. (Watching the interview, CNN’s Oliver Darcy felt transported “to 2015, back when news outlets allowed Trump to phone in to news shows and deliver a drive-by of lies to their audiences.”) The New Yorker’s Susan B. Glasser, meanwhile, took the media as a whole to task for failing to devote sufficient coverage to a prior, equally unhinged Trump rally in Georgia, arguing that his “flood of lies and BS” is now “seen as old news from a candidate whose greatest political success has been to acclimate a large swath of the population to his ever more dangerous alternate reality.” . . .

In 2019, Lenore Taylor, the editor of The Guardian’s Australian edition, turned heads among US media observers when she argued in a widely shared op-ed that watching a full, unfiltered Trump press conference had changed her perception of a man she thought she knew well. Taylor realized “how much the reporting of Trump necessarily edits and parses his words, to force it into sequential paragraphs or impose meaning where it is difficult to detect,” she wrote. “In most circumstances, presenting information in as intelligible a form as possible is what we are trained for. But the shock I felt hearing half an hour of unfiltered meanderings from the president of the United States made me wonder whether the editing does our readers a disservice.” Those who feared normalizing Trump’s lies, in other words, might have been normalizing his incoherence instead.^[3]

Jon Allsop, “Context collapse,” Columbia Journalism Review, March 18, 2024, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/trump_ohio_speech_bloodbath_media_broadcast_live.php

Peter Stone, “Putin bromance has US intelligence officials fearing second Trump term,” Guardian, March 18, 2024, Putin bromance has US intelligence officials fearing second Trump term

Finances

Fig. 1. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

[Donald] Trump and his company need to post a bond for the full amount [of a fraud judgment against him] by next week in order to stop New York Attorney General Letitia James from being able to collect while he appeals. They’ve asked an appeals court to step in in the meantime and said Monday that they have not had any success getting a bond.

“Defendants’ ongoing diligent efforts have proven that a bond in the judgment’s full amount is ‘a practical impossibility,'” the filing said. “These diligent efforts have included approaching about 30 surety companies through 4 separate brokers.”^[4]

Coup attempt

2024

Fig. 3. Cartoon by Ben Jennings, January 24, 2024, via the Guardian,^[5] fair use.

Jon Allsop, “Context collapse,” Columbia Journalism Review, March 18, 2024, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/trump_ohio_speech_bloodbath_media_broadcast_live.php

^[1]Alex Griffing, “Drudge Puts Trump in an Orange Jumpsuit as Site Monitors His Potential Indictment,” Mediaite, August 29, 2022, https://www.mediaite.com/news/drudge-puts-trump-in-an-orange-jumpsuit-as-site-monitors-his-potential-indictment/↩
^[2]Sarah D. Wire and Alexandra E. Petri, “Trump charged with 34 felony counts in alleged hush money cover-up case,” Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-04-04/donald-trump-alleged-hush-money-investigation-indictment-arraignment ↩
^[3]Jon Allsop, “Context collapse,” Columbia Journalism Review, March 18, 2024, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/trump_ohio_speech_bloodbath_media_broadcast_live.php ↩
^[4]Adam Reiss and Dareh Gregorian, “Trump has been unable to get bond for $464 million judgment, his lawyers say,” NBC News, March 18, 2024, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-unable-get-bond-464-million-judgment-lawyers-say-rcna143860 ↩
^[5]Ben Jennings, “Ben Jennings on Donald Trump’s progress along the Republican nomination trail – cartoon,” Guardian, January 24, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/jan/24/ben-jennings-on-donald-trumps-progress-along-the-republican-nomination-trail-cartoon ↩

Worry more about Donald Trump being unhinged than that there will be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses

March 17, 2024benfell

Illiberalism

Gilead

Donald Trump

Fig. 1. Donald Trump, depicted in an orange jumpsuit, reportedly by the Drudge, date unknown, via Mediaite,^[1] fair use. Apparently, no mugshot was taken when he was actually arrested over hush money paid to Stormy Daniels.^[2]

I’m seeing a lot of comment on social media on Donald Trump’s “bloodbath” threat.^[3] People are alarmed and I understand that.

What I would say of the coup attempt, however, is that it was considerably less severe than I would have expected. Militia groups mostly stayed out of it. I would have expected them in and, had they shown up, the coup attempt on January 6, 2021, would have been far worse than it was (possibly even with a different outcome). A lot of these folks are military, ~~police~~ white supremacist gangsters, or formerly so. They are often experienced soldiers who have been training for combat in the backwoods for decades (most of the fighting for Trump would be in urban environments).

So if we’re talking a bloodbath, we’re not talking about the Proud Boys or any of the amateurs who actually showed up on January 6. We’re certainly not talking about the “lone wolf” domestic terrorists we’ve seen so much of in recent decades. We’re probably talking about these militia groups joining in. They didn’t do it three years ago. My expectation is that they won’t do it if Trump loses yet again.

I’m also seeing comment that Trump is unhinged. This’d be the part to take seriously and mostly for the contingency that he actually wins.

Marisa Iati, “Trump says some undocumented immigrants are ‘not people,’” Washington Post, March 16, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/16/trump-immigrants-not-people/

Migration

Fig. 2. Photograph credited to “ProtoplasmaKid,”, November 9, 2018, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Marisa Iati, “Trump says some undocumented immigrants are ‘not people,’” Washington Post, March 16, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/16/trump-immigrants-not-people/

^[1]Alex Griffing, “Drudge Puts Trump in an Orange Jumpsuit as Site Monitors His Potential Indictment,” Mediaite, August 29, 2022, https://www.mediaite.com/news/drudge-puts-trump-in-an-orange-jumpsuit-as-site-monitors-his-potential-indictment/↩
^[2]Sarah D. Wire and Alexandra E. Petri, “Trump charged with 34 felony counts in alleged hush money cover-up case,” Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-04-04/donald-trump-alleged-hush-money-investigation-indictment-arraignment ↩
^[3]Marisa Iati, “Trump says some undocumented immigrants are ‘not people,’” Washington Post, March 16, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/16/trump-immigrants-not-people/↩

Real fun yet to come on commercial real estate

March 17, 2024March 17, 2024benfell

Neoliberalism

Banking

Commercial real estate

Fig. 1. The confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, with the “Golden Triangle” and downtown Pittsburgh. Photograph by author, October 15, 2023.

A strong economy is helping to delay the day of reckoning, as most tenants are still paying the rent. Pressure is building slowly as leases expire: Many companies are reducing their space by 30% to 40% when their contracts end.

Lenders are also eager to kick the can down the road. They don’t want to force borrowers to sell buildings into a weak commercial real-estate market, which would lead to punishing losses.^[1]

There is an awful lot of need for an awful lot of distressed financing for an awful lot of office space. The reckoning may be delayed but Carol Ryan argues it is still coming.^[2] What’s catching my eye here is a somewhat irregular drumbeat. Whatever is going on here, it doesn’t seem to ever quite go away.

Carol Ryan, “America’s Office Fire Sale Has Barely Begun,” Wall Street Journal, March 17, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/americas-office-fire-sale-has-barely-begun-0c8d376f

Imperialism

Israel

Fig. 2. John Bolton and Binyamin Netanyahu at a press conference. Office of U.S. National Security Advisor, August 20, 2018, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Andrew Silow-Carroll, “How Israel’s Black Panthers radicalized its Mizrahi Jews, and changed the country,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 17, 2024, https://www.jta.org/2024/03/17/ideas/how-israels-black-panthers-radicalized-its-mizrahi-jews-and-changed-the-country

Palestine

07_09:10:47-2
Fig. 3. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,^[3] fair use.

Paul Ronzheimer and Carlo Martuscelli, “Netanyahu vows to defy Biden’s ‘red line’ and invade Rafah,” Politico, March 10, 2024, https://www.politico.eu/article/israels-netanyahu-says-he-will-defy-bidens-red-line-and-invade-rafah/

Roya News, “Exposé reveals list of essential aid items banned by ‘Israel’ from entry into Gaza,” March 10, 2024, https://en.royanews.tv/news/49795/2024-03-03

Eric Lutz, “Joe Biden’s Delicate Dance With Netanyahu Can’t Go on Forever,” Vanity Fair, March 11, 2024, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/joe-biden-benjamin-netanyahu-rift

Claire Parker, “Israeli pressure on Palestinian economy pushes West Bank to the brink,” Washington Post, March 11, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/11/israel-gaza-west-bank-economy/

Nataliya Vasilyeva and Tony Diver, “Israel could see Netanyahu ousted from power, US predicts,” Telegraph, March 11, 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/03/11/israel-could-see-netanyahu-ousted-from-power-us-predicts/

Adam Taylor, “Biden has huge leverage on Israel. He hasn’t really used it yet,” Washington Post, March 12, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/03/12/israel-united-states-military-aid-leverage/

Times of Israel, “Biden mulling conditions on Israel military aid if Rafah assault goes ahead — report,” Times of Israel, March 12, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/biden-mulling-conditions-on-israel-military-aid-if-rafah-assault-goes-ahead-report/

Times of Israel, “‘Very senior’ Israeli official accuses US government of seeking to oust Netanyahu,” March 12, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/very-senior-israeli-official-accuses-us-government-of-seeking-to-oust-netanyahu/

Andrew Lapin, “80+ bands pull out of South by Southwest to protest festival’s ties to Israeli military,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 13, 2024, https://www.jta.org/2024/03/13/israel/80-bands-pull-out-of-south-by-southwest-to-protest-festivals-ties-to-israeli-military

Stephen Collinson, Caitlin Hu, and Shelby Rose to Meanwhile in America list, “A momentous twist in US-Israel relations,” CNN, March 14, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/newsletters

Liz Goodwin, “Schumer calls for ‘new election’ in Israel in scathing speech on Netanyahu,” Washington Post, March 14, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/14/israel-elections-netanyahu-charles-schumer/

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, “Surprise, Surprise: AIPAC Flips Out Over Schumer’s Netanyahu Comment,” New Republic, March 14, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179836/aipac-pissed-chuck-schumer-benjamin-netanyahu-comment

Shia Kapos and Adam Cancryn, “Arab, Muslim and Palestinian leaders refuse to meet with White House aides in Chicago,” Politico, March 14, 2024, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/14/arab-muslim-and-palestinian-leaders-refuse-to-meet-with-white-house-aides-in-chicago-00147109

Barak Ravid, “Schumer’s anti-Netanyahu speech stuns Israel,” Axios, March 14, 2024, https://www.axios.com/2024/03/14/schumer-israel-netanyahu-speech-reaction

Luke Tress, “Chuck Schumer calls for new elections in Israel, says Netanyahu has ‘lost his way,’” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 14, 2024, https://www.jta.org/2024/03/14/israel/schumer-calls-for-new-elections-in-israel-says-netanyahu-has-lost-his-way

Gershom Gorenberg, “Why Biden and Bibi Are Tangling, and Why Biden Could Win,” New Republic, March 15, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/article/179736/biden-netanyahu-feud-gaza

Times of Israel, “Biden hails ‘good speech’ by Schumer criticizing Netanyahu, says many Americans agree,” March 15, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/biden-hails-good-speech-by-schumer-criticizing-netanyahu-says-many-americans-agree/

Luke Tress, “Chuck Schumer called for elections in Israel. What did he hope to achieve?” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 15, 2024, https://www.jta.org/2024/03/15/israel/chuck-schumer-called-for-elections-in-israel-what-did-he-hope-to-achieve

Lauren Gambino, “Top senator calls on Biden to ‘use all levers’ to pressure Israel over Gaza,” Guardian, March 16, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/16/biden-senator-chris-van-hollen-israel-gaza-aid

Nicholas Vinocur, “Belgian PM warns Israel against using hunger as ‘weapon of war’ in Gaza,” Politico, March 16, 2024, https://www.politico.eu/article/belgian-prime-minister-alexander-de-croo-warns-israel-against-hunger-weapon-war-gaza/

Steve Hendrix, Susannah George, and Missy Ryan, “As Gaza war rages, U.S. military footprint expands across Middle East,” Washington Post, March 17, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/17/israel-gaza-us-military-middle-east/

Rachel Leingang, “How the uncommitted movement rocked Biden over Gaza,” Guardian, March 17, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/17/us-uncommitted-voters-biden-gaza

^[1]Carol Ryan, “America’s Office Fire Sale Has Barely Begun,” Wall Street Journal, March 17, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/americas-office-fire-sale-has-barely-begun-0c8d376f ↩
^[2]Carol Ryan, “America’s Office Fire Sale Has Barely Begun,” Wall Street Journal, March 17, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/americas-office-fire-sale-has-barely-begun-0c8d376f ↩
^[3]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩

It is not only Binyamin Netanyahu who is due for a ‘come to Jesus’ moment.

March 16, 2024benfell

Imperialism

Israel

Palestine

07_09:10:47-2
Fig. 1. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,^[1] fair use.

I missed or overlooked an article in New York magazine about Joe Biden’s approach to Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu, and Gaza when it first came out. In it, it becomes clear that Biden’s revised approach is to distinguish between Netanyahu and Israel, recognizing that Netanyahu is acting to save his own political skin and against Israel’s interests. The sanctions that have already been announced could in fact be applied more broadly, including to hardline members of Netanyahu’s coalition.^[2] This, of course, has not yet happened, and sanctions are rarely, if ever, effective, so we can’t really count this as action. But:

This week, [Chris] Van Hollen and seven of his colleagues sent a letter to the president arguing that Israel was in violation of the Foreign Assistance Act, a section of which prohibits the sale and transfer of military weapons to any nation that restricts the delivery of US aid.

Their call comes as the administration faces mounting domestic and international pressure over what critics have described as an “absurd” and “inherent contradiction” at the heart of US policy on Israel’s war against Hamas: while the US attempts to ease the deepening humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s military campaign in the Palestinian territory, it continues to arm the country.^[3]

Biden and his administration are surely aware of this contradiction and that Israel is in violation of U.S. law. The contents of the letter cannot possibly have been a surprise.

But what we’re seeing is that Biden is seriously out of step with what the entire world is saying, seriously out of step with what many of his own people are saying. And this is a man expecting to be re-elected. This is a picture that doesn’t make sense and it is not only Binyamin Netanyahu who is due for a “come to Jesus” moment.

Steve Hendrix and Sufian Taha, “At Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque, Ramadan brings uncertainty and fear,” Washington Post, March 9, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/09/ramadan-jerusalem-al-aqsa-gaza-war/

Noga Tarnopolsky, “The Biden Plan to Ditch Netanyahu,” New York, March 9, 2024, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/the-biden-plan-to-ditch-israels-netanyahu.html

Roya News, “Exposé reveals list of essential aid items banned by ‘Israel’ from entry into Gaza,” March 10, 2024, https://en.royanews.tv/news/49795/2024-03-03

Eric Lutz, “Joe Biden’s Delicate Dance With Netanyahu Can’t Go on Forever,” Vanity Fair, March 11, 2024, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/joe-biden-benjamin-netanyahu-rift

Stephen Collinson, Caitlin Hu, and Shelby Rose to Meanwhile in America list, “A momentous twist in US-Israel relations,” CNN, March 14, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/newsletters

Barak Ravid, “Schumer’s anti-Netanyahu speech stuns Israel,” Axios, March 14, 2024, https://www.axios.com/2024/03/14/schumer-israel-netanyahu-speech-reaction

Gershom Gorenberg, “Why Biden and Bibi Are Tangling, and Why Biden Could Win,” New Republic, March 15, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/article/179736/biden-netanyahu-feud-gaza

So-called ‘ridesharing’

Drivers

Fig. 1. Yeah, this is me. The sign says, “If you’re whining about a labor shortage, STOP ignoring my job applications!” And the QR-code leads here. Photograph by author, January 16, 2023.

Jordan Valinsky, “Lyft and Uber to cease operations in Minneapolis after new minimum wage law,” CNN, March 15, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/15/business/uber-lyft-minneapolis-minimum-wage/index.html

Illiberalism

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

2024

Fig. 1. Cartoon by Ben Jennings, January 24, 2024, via the Guardian,^[4] fair use.

Kyle Cheney, Josh Gerstein, and Betsy Woodruff Swan, “Judge tosses six charges in Trump Georgia indictment,” Politico, March 13, 2024, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/13/judge-tosses-six-charges-in-trump-georgia-indictment-00146713

Perry Stein and Devlin Barrett, “Judge Cannon rejects Trump’s attack on the Espionage Act,” Washington Post, March 14, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/14/trump-cannon-hearing-espionage-act-pra/

Holly Bailey and Amy Gardner, “Fani Willis can stay on Trump Georgia case, but only if Wade steps aside, judge says,” Washington Post, March 15, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/15/fani-willis-trump-georgia-case/

Thomas Doherty, “Trump wouldn’t be the first presidential candidate to campaign from a prison cell,” Conversation, March 15, 2024, https://theconversation.com/trump-wouldnt-be-the-first-presidential-candidate-to-campaign-from-a-prison-cell-225492

Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr., “Why Fani Willis was allowed to stay on as prosecutor of criminal case against Trump in Georgia – and what happens next,” Conversation, March 15, 2024, https://theconversation.com/why-fani-willis-was-allowed-to-stay-on-as-prosecutor-of-criminal-case-against-trump-in-georgia-and-what-happens-next-225532

Jan Wolfe, Cameron McWhirter, and Mariah Timms, “Willis Deputy Resigns, Allowing Her to Stay on Trump Case After Judge’s Ruling,” Wall Street Journal, March 15, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/judge-says-fani-willis-can-stay-on-georgia-trump-caseif-deputy-steps-aside-04790a42

^[1]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
^[2]Noga Tarnopolsky, “The Biden Plan to Ditch Netanyahu,” New York, March 9, 2024, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/the-biden-plan-to-ditch-israels-netanyahu.html ↩
^[3]Lauren Gambino, “Top senator calls on Biden to ‘use all levers’ to pressure Israel over Gaza,” Guardian, March 16, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/16/biden-senator-chris-van-hollen-israel-gaza-aid ↩
^[4]Ben Jennings, “Ben Jennings on Donald Trump’s progress along the Republican nomination trail – cartoon,” Guardian, January 24, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/jan/24/ben-jennings-on-donald-trumps-progress-along-the-republican-nomination-trail-cartoon ↩

How, really, does sex in an office closet have anything at all to do with the prosecution of Donald Trump?

March 15, 2024March 15, 2024benfell

Imperialism

United States

Haiti

Fig. 1. “US Marine Corps (USMC) Marines, Lima Company, 3rd Battalion (BN), 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division (Mar DIV), patrol through the Bel Air area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after distributing donated school supplies to students in a Port-au-Prince, Haiti, school. This effort is known as “Operation Homework,” which is part of Operation SECURE TOMORROW.” Kevin McCall, April 14, 2004, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Jon Lee Anderson, “Are Gangs About to Take Over Haiti?” New Yorker, March 13, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/are-gangs-about-to-take-over-haiti

Israel

Palestine

07_09:10:47-2
Fig. 1. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,^[1] fair use.

Chuck Schumer’s speech may have backfired.^[2]

Zack Beauchamp, “Are Biden and the Democrats finally turning on Israel?” Vox, March 8, 2024, https://www.vox.com/politics/2024/3/8/24093748/biden-israel-democrats-state-of-the-union-gaza-port

Konstantin Toropin, “New Military Sealift Operation to Aid Starving Gaza Residents Will Require More than 1,000 US Troops,” Military.com, March 8, 2024, https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/03/08/new-military-sealift-operation-aid-starving-gaza-residents-will-require-more-1000-us-troops.html

Roya News, “Exposé reveals list of essential aid items banned by ‘Israel’ from entry into Gaza,” March 10, 2024, https://en.royanews.tv/news/49795/2024-03-03

Eric Lutz, “Joe Biden’s Delicate Dance With Netanyahu Can’t Go on Forever,” Vanity Fair, March 11, 2024, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/joe-biden-benjamin-netanyahu-rift

Stephen Collinson, Caitlin Hu, and Shelby Rose to Meanwhile in America list, “A momentous twist in US-Israel relations,” CNN, March 14, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/newsletters

Barak Ravid, “Schumer’s anti-Netanyahu speech stuns Israel,” Axios, March 14, 2024, https://www.axios.com/2024/03/14/schumer-israel-netanyahu-speech-reaction

Gershom Gorenberg, “Why Biden and Bibi Are Tangling, and Why Biden Could Win,” New Republic, March 15, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/article/179736/biden-netanyahu-feud-gaza

Illiberalism

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

2024

Fig. 1. Cartoon by Ben Jennings, January 24, 2024, via the Guardian,^[3] fair use.

Whatever else you do, take a few minutes to read the story of Eugene Debs.^[4] As to the drama in Georgia, someone needs to explain to me how this alleged “conflict of interest” amounts to a hill of beans.

The judge refers to the appearance of impropriety and required Fani Willis’ deputy’s resignation,^[5] which was rapidly forthcoming.^[6] Everybody acts like this is a big deal, but I’m just completely missing how some fucking in office closets in an apparently now-ended romantic relationship on the prosecution team affects the prosecution of Donald Trump in any way. It’s just a complete non sequitur for me and I’m completely disgusted that any attention whatsoever has been paid to this. But I guess it’s an excuse for delay, which, of course, is Trump’s standard operating procedure.^[7]

^[1]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
^[2]Luke Tress, “Chuck Schumer called for elections in Israel. What did he hope to achieve?” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 15, 2024, https://www.jta.org/2024/03/15/israel/chuck-schumer-called-for-elections-in-israel-what-did-he-hope-to-achieve ↩
^[3]Ben Jennings, “Ben Jennings on Donald Trump’s progress along the Republican nomination trail – cartoon,” Guardian, January 24, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/jan/24/ben-jennings-on-donald-trumps-progress-along-the-republican-nomination-trail-cartoon ↩
^[4]Thomas Doherty, “Trump wouldn’t be the first presidential candidate to campaign from a prison cell,” Conversation, March 15, 2024, https://theconversation.com/trump-wouldnt-be-the-first-presidential-candidate-to-campaign-from-a-prison-cell-225492 ↩
^[5]Holly Bailey and Amy Gardner, “Fani Willis can stay on Trump Georgia case, but only if Wade steps aside, judge says,” Washington Post, March 15, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/15/fani-willis-trump-georgia-case/↩
^[6]Jan Wolfe, Cameron McWhirter, and Mariah Timms, “Willis Deputy Resigns, Allowing Her to Stay on Trump Case After Judge’s Ruling,” Wall Street Journal, March 15, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/judge-says-fani-willis-can-stay-on-georgia-trump-caseif-deputy-steps-aside-04790a42 ↩
^[7]William K. Rashbaum et al., “Donald Trump’s Time-Tested Legal Strategy: Attack and Delay,” New York Times, April 2, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/01/nyregion/trump-bragg-legal-defense-strategy.html ↩

Many, many, far too many words, nowhere near enough action

March 14, 2024benfell

Illiberalism

Gilead

Right-wing militias

Police White supremacist gangs

Fig. 1. Photograph by Lorie Shaull, April 1, 2021, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Kelli Smith, “Dallas Police Officers who Laughed at Veteran Denied Restroom Get Written Reprimands,” Military.com, March 13, 2024, https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/03/13/dallas-police-officers-who-laughed-veteran-denied-restroom-get-written-reprimands.html

Donald Trump

Finances

Fig. 2. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

[Donald] Trump, who claims to be a billionaire, has tried to delay posting bond and offered to post just $100 million. His efforts have been roundly rejected by the judge who presided over his trial. He has until March 25 to stay the fraud judgment, meaning he would need to put up the money, assets, or an appeal bond to cover the full amount. If he fails to do so, New York Attorney General Letitia James has warned she will start seizing his assets.^[1]

Tori Otten, “It Seems Trump Still Has No Idea How to Post That Massive Fraud Bond,” New Republic, March 13, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179816/trump-struggle-post-fraud-bond

Imperialism

Israel

Palestine

07_09:10:47-2
Fig. 3. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,^[2] fair use.

For all of the hullabaloo surrounding Chuck Schumer’s speech calling for Israeli elections, and there’s been quite a lot of it,^[3] I still see no sign of actual action, which is what is absolutely necessary^[4] and still may not be enough.^[5]

Zack Beauchamp, “Are Biden and the Democrats finally turning on Israel?” Vox, March 8, 2024, https://www.vox.com/politics/2024/3/8/24093748/biden-israel-democrats-state-of-the-union-gaza-port

Roya News, “Exposé reveals list of essential aid items banned by ‘Israel’ from entry into Gaza,” March 10, 2024, https://en.royanews.tv/news/49795/2024-03-03

Eric Lutz, “Joe Biden’s Delicate Dance With Netanyahu Can’t Go on Forever,” Vanity Fair, March 11, 2024, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/joe-biden-benjamin-netanyahu-rift

Stephen Collinson, Caitlin Hu, and Shelby Rose to Meanwhile in America list, “A momentous twist in US-Israel relations,” CNN, March 14, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/newsletters

^[1]Tori Otten, “It Seems Trump Still Has No Idea How to Post That Massive Fraud Bond,” New Republic, March 13, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179816/trump-struggle-post-fraud-bond ↩
^[2]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
^[3]Stephen Collinson, Caitlin Hu and Shelby Rose to Meanwhile in America list, “A momentous twist in US-Israel relations,” CNN, March 14, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/newsletters; Liz Goodwin, “Schumer calls for ‘new election’ in Israel in scathing speech on Netanyahu,” Washington Post, March 14, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/14/israel-elections-netanyahu-charles-schumer/; Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, “Surprise, Surprise: AIPAC Flips Out Over Schumer’s Netanyahu Comment,” New Republic, March 14, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179836/aipac-pissed-chuck-schumer-benjamin-netanyahu-comment; Barak Ravid, “Schumer’s anti-Netanyahu speech stuns Israel,” Axios, March 14, 2024, https://www.axios.com/2024/03/14/schumer-israel-netanyahu-speech-reaction; Luke Tress, “Chuck Schumer calls for new elections in Israel, says Netanyahu has ‘lost his way,’” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 14, 2024, https://www.jta.org/2024/03/14/israel/schumer-calls-for-new-elections-in-israel-says-netanyahu-has-lost-his-way ↩
^[4]Shia Kapos and Adam Cancryn, “Arab, Muslim and Palestinian leaders refuse to meet with White House aides in Chicago,” Politico, March 14, 2024, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/14/arab-muslim-and-palestinian-leaders-refuse-to-meet-with-white-house-aides-in-chicago-00147109 ↩
^[5]Charles M. Blow, “Arab American Fury Toward Biden,” Washington Post, February 28, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/opinion/voters-michigan-biden-gaza.html ↩

Suddenly, there’s $300 million for Ukraine. Not that it’s anything like enough.

March 13, 2024benfell

Imperialism

Russia

Ukraine

Fig. 1. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,^[1] fair use.

Dan Lamothe, “U.S. to send Ukraine $300 million arms package as further aid stalls,” Washington Post, March 12, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/12/ukraine-weapons-package/

Oren Liebermann, Haley Britzky, and Natasha Bertrand, “Biden admin announces new weapons package for Ukraine following months of warnings there was no money left,” CNN, March 12, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/12/politics/us-announces-weapons-package-ukraine/index.html

Israel

Palestine

07_09:10:47-2
Fig. 2. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,^[2] fair use.

Opening its main nightly news broadcast, Channel 12 said that the statement came from “the most senior Israeli political source you can imagine,” indicating this was [Binyamin] Netanyahu himself, and added that the US report [that Netanyahu’s rule may be in jeopardy] had left the prime minister “fuming.”

Netanyahu has “decided to embark upon strong, public and dramatic confrontations with the president of the United States,” Channel 12 added.

In the same intelligence report, the US observed that Israel will likely be challenged by Hamas for years to come, despite its insistence in the wake of the deadly October 7 terror assault that it will eradicate the terror group in its entirety and Netanyahu repeated vow of “total victory.”^[3]

Sorry, but if you’re going to accuse the U.S. of seeking to oust Binyamin Netanyahu,^[4] you’re going to have to show me something a lot more substantive than an intelligence assessment that his ouster is a possibility.^[5] This is just asinine. But I guess we see what gets under Netanyahu’s skin.

Zack Beauchamp, “Are Biden and the Democrats finally turning on Israel?” Vox, March 8, 2024, https://www.vox.com/politics/2024/3/8/24093748/biden-israel-democrats-state-of-the-union-gaza-port

Roya News, “Exposé reveals list of essential aid items banned by ‘Israel’ from entry into Gaza,” March 10, 2024, https://en.royanews.tv/news/49795/2024-03-03

Eric Lutz, “Joe Biden’s Delicate Dance With Netanyahu Can’t Go on Forever,” Vanity Fair, March 11, 2024, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/joe-biden-benjamin-netanyahu-rift

Rich Cholodofsky, “Westmoreland looks to shed label of being a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, March 13, 2024, https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/westmoreland-looks-to-shed-label-of-being-a-sanctuary-for-undocumented-immigrants/

Sara McKinnon, “What is the Darien Gap? And why are more migrants risking this Latin American route to get to the US?” Conversation, March 13, 2024, https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-darien-gap-and-why-are-more-migrants-risking-this-latin-american-route-to-get-to-the-us-225422

The ruling [dismissing six charges] affects three of the 13 felony counts [Donald] Trump faces in the case, though not the central charge of a racketeering conspiracy aimed at overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state. Several of the dismissed counts do not involve Trump but instead apply to some of his most prominent co-defendants, including Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and Mark Meadows.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee emphasized that prosecutors may refile the charges with greater detail or appeal his ruling. . . .

It’s the latest setback for prosecutors in a case already waylaid for weeks by allegations that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis improperly benefited from the case by appointing a special prosecutor she had a romantic relationship with, Nathan Wade. Defendants have alleged that Wade used income he earned from his contract as a special prosecutor to take lavish vacations with Willis.^[7]

^[1]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q ↩
^[2]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
^[3]Times of Israel, “‘Very senior’ Israeli official accuses US government of seeking to oust Netanyahu,” March 12, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/very-senior-israeli-official-accuses-us-government-of-seeking-to-oust-netanyahu/↩
^[4]Times of Israel, “‘Very senior’ Israeli official accuses US government of seeking to oust Netanyahu,” March 12, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/very-senior-israeli-official-accuses-us-government-of-seeking-to-oust-netanyahu/↩
^[5]Nataliya Vasilyeva and Tony Diver, “Israel could see Netanyahu ousted from power, US predicts,” Telegraph, March 11, 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/03/11/israel-could-see-netanyahu-ousted-from-power-us-predicts/↩
^[6]Ben Jennings, “Ben Jennings on Donald Trump’s progress along the Republican nomination trail – cartoon,” Guardian, January 24, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/jan/24/ben-jennings-on-donald-trumps-progress-along-the-republican-nomination-trail-cartoon ↩
^[7]Kyle Cheney, Josh Gerstein, and Betsy Woodruff Swan, “Judge tosses six charges in Trump Georgia indictment,” Politico, March 13, 2024, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/13/judge-tosses-six-charges-in-trump-georgia-indictment-00146713 ↩