;)
The Conversation -- December 22, 2023
** Supremes Give Donald a Huuuge Christmas Gift. Adam Liptak of New York Times: "The Supreme Court declined on Friday to decide for now whether ... Donald J. Trump is immune from prosecution on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. The case will move forward in an appeals court and most likely return to the Supreme Court in the coming months. The decision to defer consideration of a central issue in the case was a major practical victory for Mr. Trump, whose lawyers have consistently sought to delay criminal cases against him around the country." ~~~
~~~ Secret Santas. Devan Cole of CNN: "The court did not explain its reasoning and there were no noted dissents.... An expedited review of the issue is already underway at the DC Circuit, which has scheduled oral arguments for January 9. The election subversion trial is currently set to begin in March."
From the New York Times Israel/Hamas liveblog, also linked below: "The United Nations Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution calling for a major increase in aid to desperate civilians in the Gaza Strip, ending nearly a week of intense diplomatic wrangling for the U.S. to not block the measure. The vote was 13-0 in favor of the resolution, with the United States and Russia abstaining. The final version of the measure did not call for a cease-fire and was unlikely to affect the fighting in Gaza.... Friday's resolution, put forward by the United Arab Emirates, the only Arab country currently on the 15-member council, calls on the warring parties in Gaza to allow the use of 'all available routes' into Gaza for aid deliveries.... The draft also dropped a call for the 'urgent suspension of hostilities' from an earlier version, instead calling for 'urgent steps' to allow unhindered humanitarian access and the creation of 'conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.'"
Adam Entous of New York Times: "In January 2019, Hunter Biden sent a text message to his daughter Naomi. 'I Hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family Fro 30 years,' he wrote in the typo-filled message. 'It's really hard. But don't worry unlike Pop I won't make you give me half your salary.'... [House] Republicans have portrayed it as evidence that he was privately acknowledging that he split his [substantial Burisma] income with his father.... But a close examination of the circumstances ... shows the extent to which the contents of the communications have been misunderstood or outright distorted [by Republicans].... The 2019 message was a reference to a story from Hunter's youth.... [Hunter's] roommate [at Georgetown U.] at the time recalled Hunter telling him and his twin brother 'a million times' that then-Senator Biden encouraged him to work, saying, 'You can keep half of the paycheck, but you have to hand over the other half for "room and board."'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Hunter may have thought it wasn't "fair" to have to share his income with his parents to help pay his expenses, but a lot of young people do that. I saved at least half of all of the income I earned as a teenager to help pay for my college tuition & dorm fees. I never considered that any sort of burden; my parents paid what they could and I paid what I could. And I was the beneficiary of every cent. Joe Biden, often described as "the poorest Senator" (because that's what Senate financial disclosures showed) likely did as my parents did: paid the portion of the children's college expenses he could afford. Of course, Hunter's friends were, on the whole, richer than my friends, so I can see why he might have compared his circumstances to those of his wealthy friends. ~~~
~~~ Luke Broadwater of New York Times: "As they search for evidence they can use to impeach President Biden, House Republicans have repeatedly pointed to evidence that they say undercuts his claims that he never had anything to do with the foreign business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden.... But an examination of some of the highest-profile examples cited by Republicans shows that they have been taken out of context, or that Republicans have omitted key messages in email or text chains that often cast the communications in a more innocuous light." Broadwater examines several examples of those mountains-to-molehills conversions.
Abdi Dahir & Eric Schmitt of New York Times: "A senior leader of the Somali terrorist group al-Shabab, who was accused of planning multiple attacks that killed 148 Kenyans in a university town and three Americans on a military base, was killed in a U.S. military drone strike last Sunday, according to Somali and American officials. Maalim Ayman was killed on Dec. 17 by a U.S. Special Operations drone strike in a joint operation with the Somali national army, the officials said. He is believed to be responsible for the assault on Jan. 5, 2020 on a military base in Manda Bay, Kenya, that killed two U.S. contractor pilots and a U.S. soldier. A third U.S. contractor and two other U.S. service members were injured. Six U.S. aircraft were destroyed in the attack."
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Marie: As he has promised to do, Donald Trump keeps repeating his claim that immigrants "from Africa, Asia and South America" are "poisoning the blood of our nation." Lest we assume that because he skipped mentioning Central America, he's fine with immigrants from that region, of course he began his first campaign for president* asserting that immigrants from Mexico were "bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists." So we are left to surmise that in the xenophobic little mind of Donald Trump, the only immigrants who are not "poisoning the blood of our nation" are those from Europe. The truth of course is that Europeans are the largest group of immigrants to these shores, and that the ancestors of most immigrants from Central and South America and well as some from Asia got here way before Europeans did. It is Donald Trump -- a third-generation European-American -- his immigrant wives, his children and most of the rest of us who have poisoned the blood of this nation. He's such a stupid, embarrassing blowhard.
Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "Special counsel Jack Smith again urged the Supreme Court to weigh former President Trump's efforts to toss his election interference prosecution as a lower court considers Trump's argument he is immune from prosecution as a former executive. The swift reply comes after Trump on Wednesday argued acceptance of the case by the high court would be an end-run around the appeals process, with the next lower court hearing set for early next month." (Also linked yesterday.)
Adam Liptak of New York Times: "'I'm not happy with the Supreme Court,' ... Donald J. Trump said on Jan. 6, 2021. 'They love to rule against me.'... Mr. Trump spoke ruefully about his three appointees: Justices Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, suggesting that they had betrayed him.... Mr. Trump said his nominees had abandoned him, blaming his [Court] losses on the justices' eagerness to participate in Washington social life and to assert their independence from the charge that 'they're my puppets.'... Mr. Trump has criticized Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on similar grounds.... A fundamentally conservative court ... has not been particularly receptive to his arguments.... The Trump administration had the worst Supreme Court record of any since at least the Roosevelt administration.... Now another series of Trump cases are at the court or on its threshold...."
Darren Samuelsohn & Steve Reilly of the Messenger: "Special Counsel Jack Smith's office continued feuding with Donald Trump's lawyers on Thursday over how fast to get moving on preparations for convening a jury in the South Florida federal felony case on charges the former president mishandled classified documents after leaving the White House. In a four-page brief, Smith counselor Jay Bratt argued his team continues to work toward a potential May 20, 2024, trial in Fort Pierce, Fla. That includes preparations and distribution of a jury questionnaire that the special counsel wants U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to sign off on with a Feb. 2 deadline for both parties to jointly submit a proposal, along with their areas of disagreement."
** Caught on Tape. Attention: Jack Smith. Craig Mauger of the Detroit News: "Then-President Donald Trump personally pressured two Republican members of the Wayne County [Detroit] Board of Canvassers not to sign the certification of the 2020 presidential election, according to recordings reviewed by The Detroit News and revealed publicly for the first time. On a Nov. 17, 2020, phone call, which also involved Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, Trump told Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, the two GOP Wayne County canvassers, they'd look 'terrible' if they signed the documents after they first voted in opposition and then later in the same meeting voted to approve certification of the county's election results, according to the recordings. 'We've got to fight for our country,' said Trump on the recordings, made by a person who was present for the call with Palmer and Hartmann. 'We can't let these people take our country away from us.'
"McDaniel ... said at another point in the call, 'If you can go home tonight, do not sign it. ... We will get you attorneys.' To which Trump added: 'We'll take care of that.'... Trump said Republicans had been 'cheated on this election' and 'everybody knows Detroit is crooked as hell,' according to the recordings.... The recordings further demonstrated the direct involvement of Trump, as an incumbent president, with Republican officials in Michigan in a bid to undermine Biden's win and how some details of his efforts had remained secret as he launched a campaign to win back the White House in 2024."
~~~ Marie: If you wondered why Trump concentrated on flipping the vote totals in just one state -- Georgia ("find me 11,781 votes") -- he wasn't.
All My Trials, Lord. Kara Scannell of CNN: "... Donald Trump is asking a federal appeals court to delay his defamation trial set for next month in a lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll so he can consider other legal moves, including potentially taking the case to the US Supreme Court. A federal appeals court rejected Trump's use of presidential immunity as a defense to the defamation charges stemming from statements he made while president, saying he had waived his right to assert it by making the claim too late into the litigation. The court sent the case back to the trial judge to move ahead to trial, which is set for January 16. In a motion Thursday, Trump's attorneys asked the appeals court to stay the trial to allow them time to consider their appellate options...."
Eileen Sullivan & Alan Feuer of New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, a day after a federal judge ordered him to start paying the $148 million in damages he owes to two former Georgia election workers for spreading lies that they had tried to steal the 2020 election from Donald J. Trump. Mr. Giuliani owes millions of dollars in legal fees as well as unpaid state and federal income taxes, according to the filing." A Reuters story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Ramon Vargas of the Guardian: "Actor John Schneider called for the executions of Joe Biden and the president's son Hunter in a now-deleted social media post that drew ridicule and questions about whether he should be criminally charged. Schneider, perhaps best known for his role as Bo Duke on the TV series Dukes of Hazzard as well as his recent runner-up finish on The Masked Singer, fired off the post on X at 2am local time on Thursday. 'Mr President, I believe you are guilty of treason and should be publicly hung,' Schneider wrote to Biden. 'Your son too. Your response is..?...'... Citing anonymous sources close to the matter, Deadline reported later Thursday that the Secret Service ... had opened a preliminary investigation into Schneider." MB: That's "hanged," not "hung," John, you ignorant slug.
Presidential Race 2024
Meredith McGraw & Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Top officials with Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the Colorado Republican Party spoke on Thursday to discuss plans of action after the Colorado Supreme Court's decision to throw the former president off of the Republican primary ballot.... The Colorado GOP will appeal the Colorado court's decision -- holding that Trump was invalidated from appearing on the ballot because he'd incited an insurrection on Jan. 6 -- to the Supreme Court. Depending on how the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, he said, the party would ask the Republican National Committee for a waiver to hold a caucus instead of a primary election."
You may be surprised to learn that there are causes other than inciting insurrection that can keep a presidential* hopeful off the ballot. ~~~
~~~ Grace Kazarian & Hunter Woodall of CBS News: "Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's latest attempt to get on the Maine Republican presidential primary ballot failed Thursday after his campaign tried to recover from a surprising setback in the Super Tuesday state. Earlier this month, the Maine Secretary of State's office said that Christie's campaign fell short of the necessary number of certified signatures needed from Maine voters to qualify for the state's Republican presidential primary. His campaign appealed the decision, but a Maine Superior Court judge sided on Thursday with the secretary of state's handling of the situation." MB: Now we'll see if the ruling requires Chrisco supporters to make death threats against the judge & secretary of state and publish their home addresses.
Vaughn Hillyard & Dan Gallo of NBC News: "No Labels, the organization attempting to assemble a third-party presidential unity ticket, is openly floating the prospect of a'coalition government' forming after the 2024 election if no candidate reaches the 270 Electoral College votes necessary to win the White House. Officials with the group are mapping out an unlikely and largely unprecedented scenario where they could be in a position to cut deals on policy, Cabinet posts or even the vice presidency if their still-unformed ticket manages to win electoral votes and blocks a major-party nominee from winning the presidency outright.... Former Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Davis, a co-founder of No Labels ... suggest[ed] the No Labels ticket could 'cut a deal' with one of the major parties' tickets.... Davis also said that the group is looking at another potential, if far-fetched, outcome: A contingent election in which the president is selected by the U.S. House." MB: Or, they could pick a president out of a hat full of strips of paper with the names of people qualified to be president. Or there could be, like, a lottery. Or whatever.
Emma Barnett & Zoe Richards of NBC News: "A New Hampshire man has been indicted after threatening text messages were allegedly sent to three presidential candidates, including Republicans Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie. Tyler Anderson of Dover, New Hampshire, was charged with three counts of transmitting interstate threats stemming from text messages sent to three presidential campaigns, the Justice Department said in a news release.... The text messages, dating back to November, included a threat to 'impale' and 'disembowel' one candidate, prosecutors said. The candidate was not named in court documents."
Dana Priest of the Washington Post: "Jamal Khashoggi's widow, [Hanan Elatr,] who went into hiding after The Washington Post columnist was murdered in 2018 by a Saudi assassination squad, has been granted political asylum in the United States.... The decision this month validates Elatr's assertions that her life would be in danger were she to return to her native Egypt or the United Arab Emirates, where she lived for 26 years until Jamal Khashoggi was killed."
** Heidi Przybyla of Politico: "... a tight circle of conservative legal activists have built a highly effective thought chamber around the court's conservative flank over the past decade. A Politico review of tax filings, financial statements and other public documents found that [right-wing judicial activist Leonard] Leo and his network of nonprofit groups are either directly or indirectly connected to a majority of amicus briefs filed on behalf of conservative parties in seven of the highest-profile rulings the court has issued over the past two years.... The picture that emerges is of an exceedingly small universe of mostly Christian conservative activists developing and disseminating theories to change the nation's legal and cultural landscape. It also casts new light on Leo's outsized role in the conservative legal movement, where he simultaneously advised Trump on Supreme Court nominations, paid for media campaigns promoting the nominees and sought to influence court decision-making on a range of cases."
Przybyla goes on to show how actual scholars have torn apart some of the so-call scholarship in the Court's decisions, particularly in Sam Alito's Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, supposedly historical medieval precedents Alito cribbed off an amicus brief by friend-of-Leonard Princeton professor Robert George, who is not an historian and didn't know WTF he was writing about. Przybyla also notes that more liberal members of the Court rely on amicus briefs, too, and that Justice Jackson received criticism for some misleading information she copied from one of them. MB: You know what? Sam Alito and his Supreme cohort don't care how faulty their arguments are; they only care that they're beating down the ladies, the gays, the infidels, and the Black and Brown people.
A Scrooge for Our Times. Nathaniel Meyersohn of CNN: "Wayfair's CEO has an end-of-year message for employees of the online furniture company: Don't shy away from doing more work and blending your work with your life. 'Winning requires hard work. I believe that most of us, being ambitious individuals, find fulfillment in the joy of seeing our efforts materialize into tangible results,' CEO Niraj Shah said in a note to employees earlier this month celebrating the company's recent success.... 'Working long hours, being responsive, blending work and life, is not anything to shy away from. There is not a lot of history of laziness being rewarded with success.'"
The Woman Who Changed D-Day Dies at 100. Brian Murphy of the Washington Post: "Before dawn on June 3, 1944, a postal clerk [Maureen Flavin] in Ireland's County Mayo checked her weather gauges. A storm was coming fast.... She double-checked the observations. They then were passed along until finally they reached Britain's Met Office, which since 1939 had used the Blacksod post office as one of its weather stations. Blacksod carried particular importance. Its position on Ireland's northwestern coast was often an early warning of Atlantic weather systems headed for Britain.... About 7,000 ships and landing craft, 11,000 aircraft and more than 130,000 Allied troops were amassed for Operation Overlord, the invasion into Nazi-occupied France. The only missing puzzle piece was the weather forecast for the English Channel to decide if June 5 would be D-Day. The storm observations from County Mayo were the first indications of trouble ahead. The invasion was postponed until June 6. And the postal worker -- 21-year-old Maureen Flavin [later Maureen Flavin Sweeney] -- became part of World War II lore as a linchpin in the weather team whose work persuaded commanders to hold off for 24 hours the air-and-sea assault that helped change the course the war.... [Sweeney] died Dec. 17 at 100...." Read to the end. (Also linked yesterday.)
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Rhode Island. Katherine Gregg of the Providence (R.I.) Journal: "The selection of former Trump National Security Adviser − and renowned conspiracy theorist − Mike Flynn as an inductee into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame has led to at least a half dozen resignations from the board that oversees the Hall of Fame. And it has led former Congressman Jim Langevin, who was also selected last week for induction into the honorary Hall of Fame, to serve notice: 'If retired General Michael Flynn were to be included in this class I would not accept the nomination.' In her letter of resignation from the board, former Rep. Denise Aiken wrote: "I find that I am unable to be associated with an organization that would choose to honor a criminal who failed to keep this oath to the Constitution of the United States.'" Thanks to RAS for the lead. MB: Don't they have a Hall of Infamy where they could stick General Mike in with notorious Providence mob bosses & such? (Also linked yesterday.)
Texas. Kim Bellware, et al., of the Washington Post: "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) tried to compel a Seattle hospital to hand over information about gender-affirming treatment Texas youths may have received across state lines, according to court filings, signaling an escalation of his office's attempts to crack down on Texans' ability to access such health care. The Seattle Children's Hospital requested a Texas judge nullify, or at least rein in, Paxton's demands, arguing that his office lacks the jurisdiction over the Washington state hospital.... The hospital said Paxton's queries -- made under the guise of an investigation by the AG's consumer protection division -- were 'sham requests.'" A KXAN (Austin, Texas) story is here. Thanks to RAS for the link.
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Israel/Palestine
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told reporters late Thursday that American diplomats and their Arab counterparts had produced a draft U.N. Security Council resolution regarding the flow of aid to Gaza, which Washington could support.... The U.N. vote is expected to happen Friday. Over a quarter of the Gaza population faces 'catastrophic hunger and starvation,' according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.... There are no fully functional hospitals now in northern Gaza, where only four hospitals are still functioning. Those can provide only 'very limited care,' and none can operate on severely wounded patients because of shortages of supplies and workers, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Friday are here. CNN's live updates are here.
New York Times: "During the first six weeks of the war in Gaza, Israel routinely used one of its biggest and most destructive bombs in areas it designated safe for civilians, according to an analysis of visual evidence by The New York Times. The video investigation focuses on the use of 2,000-pound bombs in an area of southern Gaza where Israel had ordered civilians to move for safety. While bombs of that size are used by several Western militaries, munitions experts say they are almost never dropped by U.S. forces in densely populated areas anymore.... U.S. officials have said that Israel should do more to reduce civilian casualties while fighting Hamas.... Still, since October, the United States has also sent more than 5,000 MK-84 munitions -- a type of 2,000-pound bomb." ~~~
~~~ Tamara Qiblawi, et al., of CNN: "In the first month of its war in Gaza, Israel dropped hundreds of massive bombs, many of them capable of killing or wounding people more than 1,000 feet away, analysis by CNN and artificial intelligence company Synthetaic suggests.... Weapons and warfare experts blame the extensive use of heavy munitions such as the 2,000-pound bomb for the soaring death toll. The population of Gaza is packed together much more tightly than almost anywhere else on earth, so the use of such heavy munitions has a profound effect."
~~~ Marie: Some time back, contributor Patrick, citing a news story, wrote, "I would really like to see a 'less intense air strike.'" I would say dropping less-than-2000-pound bombs on civilians in a supposed safe zone might be "less intense."
Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: "More than 20,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip in the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Hamas militants led an attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that killed more than 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials. Israel's response -- an all-out bombardment of Gaza and a ground invasion -- has killed almost 1 in 100 people in the Strip." The article goes on to discuss how unreliable the figure may be.
News Ledes
CNBC: “A gauge the Federal Reserve uses for inflation rose slightly in November and edged closer to the central bank's goal. The core personal consumption expenditures price index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, increased 0.1% for the month, and was up 3.2% from a year ago, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting respective increases of 0.1% and 3.3%." ~~~
~~~ New York Times: "A closely watched measure of inflation cooled notably in November, good news for the Federal Reserve as officials move toward the next phase in their fight against rapid price increases and a positive for the White House as voters see relief from rising costs. The Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation measure, which the Fed cites when it says it aims for 2 percent inflation on average over time, climbed 2.6 percent in the year through November. That was down from 2.9 percent the previous month, and was less than what economists had forecast. Compared with the previous month, prices overall even fell slightly for the first time in years."
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Reader Comments (15)
Funny how Fat Tony the Originalist aided and abetted by Rehnquist and his erstwhile GF(!), Kennedy and, of course, Clancy Thomas based their awarding the presidency to Dick-n-Dumbya on a most original reading of the 14th's Section 1: ...equal protection of the law...
Nowadays, with a Court owned and operated by Opus Dei, we can all sleep soundly in the knowledge that our nation's Constitution means what the sanctified six say it means. Dominus vobiscum.
Barbra Striesand and Barry Gibb did this song back in the eighties.
Wonder who they were thinking about?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h27J_95OtQA
mKaneJeeves,
Et cum spíritu tuo.
Just wondering if any of the Opus Dei crowd on the court goes in for self flagellation. Self aggrandizement, sure, but I’m guessing none of them ever feel like they err, never mind sin. No hair shirts for those guys.
When I hear about the likes of Rudy G's and Alex J's declaring bankruptcies, their money is not the first thing that comes to mind. It's the extent to which their declarations, intended to preserve their assets, are admissions that they have sold their souls for a mess of pottage.
I don't know who came up with the phrase "moral bankruptcy." I'd guess it's been around in one language or another for a very long time, pretty much since since the human race began to believe it could store value in physical tokens of any kind, but it certainly describes a lot about life in contemporary America.
And it especially describes much of one of our two political party's behavior: The one that used to wrap itself in the pretended virtue of family values, but whose selfishness, meanness, intolerance, constant lying and embrace of violence proves itself more morally bankrupt every day.
I'm reminded by the Przybyla piece that Leonard Leo was also in the now famous painting of Harlan Crow and Clarence Thomas.
The odorous Mr Trump
"Mr Kinzinger, a vocal critic of Mr Trump, took to his Twitter account this week to insinuate that the former president possesses a strong smell.
“I’m genuinely surprised how people close to Trump haven’t talked about the odor,” Mr Kinzinger wrote earlier this week.
“It’s truly something to behold. Wear a mask if you can,” he added.
When reached for comment about the accusation, a spokesperson for Mr Trump returned the insult to Mr Kinzinger.
“Adam Kinzinger farted on live TV and is an unemployed fraud,” the spokesperson said in a statement provided to The Independent.
“He has disgraced his country and disrespects everyone around him because he is a sad individual who is mad about how his miserable life has turned out.”
In an interview with Mary Trump, the niece of Mr Trump, earlier this year, comedian Kathy Griffin recalled that the former president smelled “like body odor with kind of like scented makeup products.”"
Re Ken Paxton and the Opus Dei Justices, the following was part of my reply to Linda Greenhouse this morning:
But, hey, when you make up a deity, it should do what you tell it to, right? And if you want to surveil the lives of your fellow human beings and punish them whenever they don't hew to your standards, then you create a deity who believes, say, that homosexuality is evil but treating gay people like rabid dogs is terrific. Any of your character defects that compels you to make other people's lives miserable must be a virtue, otherwise you'd have to address it or feel like crap. And your god wouldn't want that because you're great.
Jack,
The cardiologist who saved my life 17 years ago, and his niece who has taken over his practice, are Jains -- a Hindu sect with ancient traditions in the healing arts. I have a lot more respect for their beliefs than for those of the Opus Dei witch burners.
Will we ever learn?
Truly, the human race is at war with itself.
Here we have the UN trying to negotiate a way to supply more aid to thousands of Gaza victims, who are victims because both Palestinians and Israelis have decided to make them so.
Not far different, tho' far more obviously bloody, are the effects of anthropogenic climate change, which many in the world are attempting to mitigate.
The urge to do good versus the urge to do bad, with the urge to do good always trailing behind the dumb things people do.
The SCOTUS won't get off its ass:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/12/22/supreme-court-trump-immunity-expedition-denied/
Let's give it a try for the holidays.
@RAS: My, those proper British ladies do convey the spirit of the season!
Just as the of the creation of the United States was foreshadowed by the way the European conflicts were playing out at the time, I'm wondering if the current talks on tightening immigration rules here in America might not following in the steps just taken by the EU?
And will likely have the same predicted results.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/12/22/eu-migration-far-right/
Tho' many prefer not to notice, we do all live on one planet...
Marie wrote "... (DiJiT) skipped mentioning Central America ..."
Exuelly, he thinks everything south of Texas is "South America." And, makes sense, it's all south of America. Third grade language works for him. Geography really started in the fourth grade when DiJiT was a lad.
RAS,
Sent your admonishing ladies off to a dozen friends. So far. I’ve already received several promises to try…