Current developments

[hntnhole]

The President's recent primary victories seem to have dulled the R's noisy blathering's lately.  Even Lady Graham of SC's* dizzying dance of turnabouts can't keep up these days.  The President's gains seem to be mirrored by the other guy's diminishing returns - literally.  

Of concern, of course, are the ballots in Michigan marked for neither the (presumed) R candidate nor the President.  This was no surprise, given the President's mystifying disinclination to "get butch" with the Prime Minister of Israel over what amounts to genocide, and at the hands of said PM.  I've kept quiet about this issue for a while, hoping that Biden will indeed get a bit pushy with Netanyahu over the massacre of civilians since Oct. 5, and the fat is clearly in the fire now.  The President needed every liberal Jewish vote in MI he could get, and now that primary is over with a resounding victory.  He needs to risk some Jewish votes elsewhere now, and come down hard on Nettie, whose support in Israel is evaporating more and more.  The Israeli general population is already royally pissed at their PM (messing with their Supreme Court - what a surprise), as well as other issues.  

Of more recent interest however, is the announcement by the Majority Leader in the Senate (affectionately known as turtlehead) that he will retire at the end of his term.  This is the man who directly caused the "stacking" of the Supreme Court, refusing to allow the then sitting President to appoint a successor to RBG., resulting in the succeeding President to "stack" the Court with repressive ultra-conservatives, thus throwing out women's reproductive rights.  Now, even IVF is on the block, and no one with an ounce of sense thinks the High Court will stop in their sticky tracks if the Jailbait guy gets elected in November.  Senator John Thune (SD) appears to be the leading candidate to become Majority Leader, but there's a lot of water to pass under the bridge before that might happen.  

It seems the President's continuing disinclination to push back against Netanyahu's intransigence could be his biggest hurdle to reelection, unless the (admirably idealistic) student/young folks vote coalesces around his reelection.  The war in the Middle East is spreading, the ambassadors are flying furiously around the area, yet the Stumbling Block of Intransigence remains enabled in his thirst for Arab blood. 

If anyone knows how the "you slap me, I slap you harder" routine can bring peace, I'd appreciate reading that explanation one of these days.  

*moniker bestowed by no less than Jen Psaki when she worked at the White House for all those years. 

Then, there's the issue of the little baby-faced jerk running the House of Representatives.  We're literally on the threshold of a Government Shutdown (again), with all the mess that goes along with that.  But, that's for another day, I guess.  

 

[BootmanLA]

I'm not particularly worried about the "undecided" Democratic ballots in Michigan. From what I understand from political folks up there, the percentage of such is well within the "normal" range for a presidential primary. (I could be wrong but I'm going based on what they're telling me.)

What concerns me most is not who the Senate Republican leader is, but whether that person is Minority or (shudder) Majority leader. If we lose the Senate AND the presidency, look for Trump to pressure Alito and Thomas both to step down during his term so he can appoint someone young, like Barrett, to their seats, and lock in a Republican majority for another 30+ years. Conversely, there's no guarantee either would retire (or die) during a second Biden term, but if one or both of them did, we might have a rare shot at flipping a seat back to saner hands.

[hntnhole]

17 hours ago, BootmanLA said:

(or die)

What an thought-provoking prospect.

Of course, it never crossed my mind prior to reading your thoughts, (and if you believe that, the bridge over to Brooklyn is still available).  

Secondly, now that the US is dropping food (maybe even medical supplies?) parcels via helicopter to the starving-to-death (literally) Palestinians, some of the idealistic kids will realize that their best bet is to vote for one or the other, and come to the conclusion that Biden is the least-worse in their minds.  Plus, there's plenty of time before the election, and - as Bernie put it last night on MSNBC - "not one more nickel for Netanyahu" until the eradication of the Palestinian innocents ceases, food-security is guaranteed, the 2-State Solution is accepted, and the process of achieving it begun.  Only the "not one more nickel ..." is a direct quote - his flapping arms were trying to lift him off the chair, but ..... the rest is the gist of his comments.  

[hntnhole]

Interesting event today;  Senator Schumer gave an official "dressing down" commentary on the deficiencies of the Prime Minister of Israel.  

There's no way this took place without the approval of the President, and the minority leader's response was hardly remarkable.  I interpret this as the Administration's "upping" the pressure on Netanyahu, with further pressure to come in the near future.  Maybe the letter I sent to the White House actually did make it past the mail room (but, I doubt it). 

Interestingly though, I subsequently got a standard "beg letter" from the DNC; the first one this cycle.  

I have a question for all you guys:  Do any of you use TickTok?  I never have ...