An AP article reports about possible law violations by Israel's use of US weapons:
The Biden administration said Friday that Israel’s use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but that wartime conditions prevented U.S. officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
The finding of “reasonable” evidence to conclude that the U.S. ally had breached international law protecting civilians in the way it conducted its war against Hamas was the strongest statement that the Biden administration has yet made on the matter. It was released in a summary of a report being delivered to Congress on Friday.
But the caveat that the administration wasn’t able to link specific U.S. weapons to individual attacks by Israeli forces in Gaza could give the administration leeway in any future decision on whether to restrict provisions of offensive weapons to Israel.
The first-of-its-kind assessment, which was compelled by President Joe Biden’s fellow Democrats in Congress, comes after seven months of airstrikes, ground fighting and aid restrictions that have claimed the lives of nearly 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
While U.S. officials were unable to gather all the information they needed on specific strikes, the report said that given Israel’s “significant reliance” on U.S.-made weapons, it was “reasonable to assess” that they had been used by Israel’s security forces in instances “inconsistent” with its obligations under international humanitarian law “or with best practices for mitigating civilian harm.”
Rep. Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the review “only contributes to politically motivated anti-Israel sentiment” and should never have been done.
“Now is the time to stand with our ally Israel and ensure they have the tools they need,” he said in a statement.
The U.S. “treats the government of Israel as above the law,” Amanda Klasing of the Amnesty International USA rights group said in a statement.
Israel has blocked access of journalists and observers to the war, just like it has blocked the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Because of the information blockade, it is impossible to get unspun detailed information about the war. That is Israel's fault. That leads to the question, what is Israel hiding? I think it is hiding genocide. The burden of proof is solely on Israel to allow the gathering of unspun evidence by independent third parties that disproves that belief. Israel's claims of honesty in war are not credible.
My biggest worry now is that Trump, the morally rotted GOP and their demagoguery Leviathan, e.g., Faux News, will use Biden's "inadequate" response to the Gaza war to win enough votes in close states to help him win the 2024 election. After that, it is pretty clear that DJT will kill what is left of our democracy as quickly as he can. After American democracy falls, other democracies are likely to follow, leading to a worldwide collapse of democracy, which gets replaced by some form of kleptocratic authoritarianism (dictatorship, plutocracy and/or theocracy).
How ironic. Israel is now in a position to kill democracy worldwide. Since 1948, the US has been Israel's greatest defender and supporter. Key reasons for that defense and support, often to the serious detriment of US interests, is that Israel is an ally, shares our values and is a democracy. That is bullshit. Israel mostly adheres to morally rotted Trump style values. It is inherently more authoritarian than democratic. Given the record, Israel arguably is more enemy than ally.
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Multiple sources are reporting about an odd defense tactic that DJT's attorneys used when Stormy Daniels was testifying. The odd tactic was to (i) allow some of the prosecutor's sex-related questions to Daniels to be asked without objection, and (ii) allow Daniels to respond to those questions without objection. On its face, Daniels' testimony were damaging to DJT.
However, I think that in reality letting Daniels off the leash was a brilliant strategy, probably enough to kill the case on appeal. The sex part of Daniels' testimony had nothing at all to do with the fraudulent documents. What DJT's attorney did was allow Daniels' testimony evidence into the trial court record. An appeals courts can now find that evidence was too objectionable (too prejudicial), creating a basis to overturn any guilty verdicts the jury might come back with. If that is true, and I think it is, the prosecutors in this case made a gigantic mistake.
I base my analysis on reporting about Daniels' testimony. The Hill reports:
New York judge scolds Trump attorney over notobjecting to Stormy Daniels testimonyJudge Juan Merchan, who oversees former President Trump’s hush money trial, scolded his defense team Thursday for not objecting more during porn actor Stormy Daniels’s most salacious testimony.
On the stand this week, Daniels went into graphic detail about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump at a 2006 golf tournament, which he denies happened. Citing those comments, Trump’s lawyers at the end of proceedings Thursday renewed their demand for a mistrial.
Merchan again denied the motion, sympathizing with the defense’s concerns but chastising Trump attorney Susan Necheles for not objecting when prosecutors asked Daniels whether Trump had used a condom during their alleged encounter.
“This is extremely prejudicial testimony,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche told the judge. “This isn’t a case about sex. This isn’t a case about whether this took place or didn’t take place. We completely deny it.”
“I agree, that shouldn’t have come out. I wish those questions hadn’t been asked, and I wish those answers hadn’t been given,” Merchan said.
“But for the life of me, I don’t know why Ms. Necheles didn’t object,” the judge continued. “Why on earth she wouldn’t object to a mention of a condom, I don’t understand.”
That judge Merchan does not understand why DJT's attorney did not object is discouraging. DJT is obviously setting up his case for an appeal if he gets convicted of anything. If nothing else, DJT's attorneys immediately made another demand for a mistrial and that should have made clear what the defense was up to. This time DJT has a damn good reason to demand a mistrial. The prosecutors blew it bigly.
Like with lots of people who should know better, Merchan truly does not understand who and what DJT really is. Far too many Americans cannot grasp the awful reality that DJT actually is. Despite the rotten apple that the prosecutors have now stupidly tossed into the apple barrel, Merchan is pressing ahead with the case. He knows there is a solid ground on which to overturn guilty verdicts, but there isn't anything he can do about it now but finish the case. The rotten apple is in the barrel.
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A long article the NYT published (not paywalled) focuses on memories by people about DJT's time as president. This is sobering to say the least:
What one thing do you remember mostabout Donald Trump’s presidency?
In April as part of the New York Times/Siena College survey, we called about 1,000 voters across the country and asked for their most prominent memory of the Trump years. Here’s what they said, in their own wordsThe 2024 election will be in part a battle over memories, perhaps more than in previous presidential races because it’s a rare rematch. And memories aren’t necessarily static — what is happening today can influence those memories.
“His honesty”
Trump supporter in 2024
“His lies”
Biden supporter
“He had the country headed in the right direction”
Trump supporter
“America was going in the wrong direction”
Biden supporter
“He was a crook”
Biden supporter
“He couldn’t be bought”
Trump supporter
“Efficient”
Trump supporter
“Incompetent”
Biden supporter
“Less division”
Trump supporter
“Divided the country”
Undecided
“He was the biggest liar ever”
Biden supporter in 2024
“His dislike for Black people”
Biden supporter
“The terrible things he did to women”
Biden supporter
“Chaos and corruption”
Biden supporter
“The disgrace he brought to this country”
Biden supporter
“His direct way of doing business”
Trump supporter
“I remember him using Twitter a lot”
Undecided
“He got things done and fulfilled campaign promises”
Trump supporter
Because of recency bias — a tendency to focus on recent events instead of past ones — people typically feel their current problems most sharply. And they tend to have a warmer recall of past experiences, which can lead to a sense of nostalgia. Like past presidents, Mr. Trump has enjoyed a higher approval rating of his time in office in retrospect.
“He saved our country and closed the border”
Trump supporter in 2024
“The wall”
Trump supporter
“Started the wall on the border”
Trump supporter
“His promise to build a wall”
Trump supporter
“He did attempt to start building the wall”
Trump supporter
“He did something about the border”
Undecided
“Putting children in cages”
Biden supporter
The Dems need to sharpen their messaging to try to address some of the false beliefs that DJT supporters hold. How to do that is unclear to me.
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