February 9, 2024

Friday, February 9, 2024. Annette’s News Roundup.

I think the Roundup makes people feel not so alone.

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Joe is always busy.

So great that we have leaders who are in sync.

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Kamala is always busy.

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Even someone who is deranged knows Insurrection when he sees it.

Touch to watch.👇

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The day started with this.

Supreme Court appears skeptical of Colorado booting Trump from ballot.

https://www.axios.com/2024/02/08/trump-supreme-court-colorado-ballot-14th-amendment

The U.S. Supreme Court appeared broadly skeptical Thursday of states' ability to disqualify former President Trump from the ballot using Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

Why it matters: The nation's highest court's eventual ruling could have broad implications for Trump's presidential candidacy nationwide.

Driving the news: "I think that the question that you have to confront is why a single state should decide who gets to be president of the United States," Justice Elena Kagan, who was appointed by former President Obama, said.

• "What's a state doing deciding who other citizens get to vote for for president?" she said.

• Another liberal justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, questioned whether the office of the presidency can be disqualified under the 14th Amendment.

Chief Justice John Roberts said that if the Colorado decision is upheld, other states could kick other candidates from the ballot.

• "It'll come down to just a handful of states that are going to decide the presidential election," he said. "That's a pretty daunting consequence."

• Justice Samuel Alito said that states reaching their own conclusions could create an "unmanageable situation."

Zoom in: Trump lawyer Jonathan Mitchell argued that states can't ban an "admitted insurrectionist" from the ballot, because Congress could vote to lift "that disability after the election."

• Mitchell also argued that the president is not an "officer of the United States," which means that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment cannot apply.

• He also said that Jan. 6 was a "riot" and not insurrectionist, which is a central claim of the former president's legal team.

Jason Murray, the lawyer for the Colorado voters, disputed early in his arguments that the president is not considered an officer of the U.S.

• "President Trump's main argument is that this court should create a special exemption to Section 3 that would apply to him and to him alone," Murray said.

• "President Trump disqualified himself," Murray also said.

What he's saying: Trump said he "thought our arguments were very, very strong" in remarks Thursday after the oral arguments ended.

• "Can you take the person that's leading everywhere and say, 'Hey, we're not gonna let you run'? You know, I think that's pretty tough to do, but I'm leaving it up to the Supreme Court."

The big picture: The Supreme Court last month agreed to take up Trump's appeal of the Colorado Supreme Court's December ruling that the former president is ineligible for the ballot over his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

• Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states that no one should hold office in the U.S. if they "have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the [U.S.], or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."

Zoom out: 14th Amendment challenges to Trump's eligibility have been filed in more than 30 states.

• In addition to Colorado, Trump was also removed from the ballot in Maine. That ruling is paused pending a decision by the Supreme Court on the Colorado case.

• It's one of several legal issues before the Supreme Court that could have ramifications for the former president and the outcome of the 2024 election.

What to watch: The Supreme Court agreed to fast-track consideration of the case and both parties have urged speedy consideration, given that Colorado and Maine have their primaries on March 5.

(Axios).

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The day ended With this.

The Republican Special Counsel took Comey pills.

In a 388 page report, the life-long Republican, Robert Hur, cleared Biden of criminal charges but called him an ‘elderly man with a poor memory.’ (New York Times).

Biden struck back.

Touch 👇 each of the tweets below to hear the President strike back.

Strike back for Joe too.

From Congressman Raskin.

Who can resist remembering this.

Touch 👇 to watch.

We won’t mention Trump’s confusion, saying Nikki Haley was in charge of the Capitol, or bragging about leading Obama in the polls or claiming that Biden could “plunge the world into World War II” or talking about Viktor Orban, “Prime Minister of Turkey.”

Or this.

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Who lacks enthusiasm?

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Worth the read to understand the proposed terms of Israel-Hamas deal that Netanyahu rejected.

Would you accept this deal?

Blinken says a cease-fire and hostage-release deal between Israel-Hamas was still possible, even though both sides remain far apart.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken with President Mahmoud Abbas, the long-running leader of the Palestinian Authority, in Ramallah on Wednesday.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that a cease-fire and hostage-release agreement between Israel and Hamas was still possible, despite the two sides being far apart on the central terms for a deal.

Blinken was in the region trying to broker an arrangement that could bring some respite in Israel’s war against Hamas, which is entering its fifth month after killing more than 27,000 Palestinians, displacing much of the territory’s population and sparking a humanitarian catastrophe.

Those diplomatic efforts were rattled earlier in the day when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a detailed, three-phase plan by Hamas that would unfold over 4 1/2 months. The plan stipulated that all hostages would be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including senior militants, and an end to the war.

Netanyahu, who called Hamas’ plan “delusional,” dismissed any proposal that leaves the militant group in full or partial control of Gaza. Netanyahu said military pressure was the best way to free the roughly 100 hostages held in the Gaza Strip, where they were taken after Hamas’ cross-border rampage into southern Israel on Oct. 7, which sparked the war.

has made destroying Hamas’ governing and military abilities one of its wartime objectives, and Hamas’ proposal would effectively leave it in power in Gaza and allow it to rebuild its military capabilities.

But Blinken downplayed the posturing, saying it was part of the arduous negotiating process. “It’s not flipping a light switch. It’s not yes or no,” he said.

“While there are some clear non-starters in Hamas’ response, we do think it creates space for agreement to be reached, and we will work at that relentlessly until we get there,” he said.

Blinken is trying to advance the cease-fire talks while pushing for a larger postwar settlement in which Saudi Arabia would normalize relations with Israel in return for a “clear, credible, time-bound path to the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

But the increasingly unpopular Netanyahu is opposed to Palestinian statehood, and his hawkish governing coalition could collapse if he is seen as making too many concessions.

HAMAS SPELLS OUT DEMANDS FOR HOSTAGE DEAL

Hamas’ statements came in response to a proposal drawn up by the United States, Israel, Qatar and Egypt. The militants’ reply was published in Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar newspaper, which is close to the powerful Hezbollah militant group.

A Hamas official and two Egyptian officials confirmed its authenticity. A fourth official familiar with the talks later clarified the sequencing of the releases. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media on the negotiations.

In the first 45-day phase, Hamas would release all remaining women and children, as well as older and sick men, in exchange for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Israel would also withdraw from populated areas, cease aerial operations, allow far more aid to enter and permit Palestinians to return to their homes, including in devastated northern Gaza.

The second phase, to be negotiated during the first, would include the release of all remaining hostages, mostly soldiers, in exchange for all Palestinian detainees over the age of 50, including senior militants.

Israel would release an additional 1,500 prisoners, 500 of whom would be specified by Hamas, and complete its withdrawal from Gaza.

In the third phase, the sides would exchange the remains of hostages and prisoners.

VICTORY IN ‘A MATTER OF MONTHS’

At the news conference earlier, Netanyahu rejected Hamas’ demands, saying they would lead to a disaster for Israel.

“Surrendering to Hamas’ delusional demands that we heard now not only won’t lead to freeing the captives, it will just invite another massacre,” Netanyahu said in a nationally televised evening news conference.

Netanyahu said the Israeli military had achieved many of the goals it set out and that victory was “a matter of months” away.

He said forces had dismantled 18 of Hamas’ 24 battalions, destroyed tunnels and killed militants, and that military pressure on Hamas was the best way to bring about the release of the hostages. He said preparations were underway for the military to move into the southern Gaza border town of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have crammed to flee the fighting.

“We are on the way to an absolute victory,” Netanyahu said. “There is no other solution.”

That stands in contrast to some Israeli officials, who say Israel’s two goals of destroying Hamas’s capabilities and freeing the hostages are incompatible and that only a deal can lead to their release.

Meanwhile, Hamas has continued to put up stiff resistance across the territory, and its police force has returned to the streets in places where Israeli troops have pulled back.

Netanyahu ruled out any arrangement that leaves Hamas in control of any part of Gaza. He also said that Israel is the “only power” capable of guaranteeing security in the long term.

At a news conference held immediately after his appearance, hostages freed in a late November deal said they were worried Netanyahu was taking too hard a line and that the remaining hostages and their families would pay the price.

“If you continue in this approach of seeking the collapse of Hamas, there won’t be any hostages to free,” said a tearful Adina Moshe, who was freed nearly 50 days into her captivity. Hamas is still holding over 130 hostages, but around 30 of them are believed to be dead, with the vast majority killed on Oct. 7.

While Blinken said Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attack was “fully justified,” and he ruled out any role for Hamas in postwar Gaza, he also criticized some of Israel’s responses.

Blinken said the daily toll of Israel’s military operations on innocent civilians “remains too high.”

“Israelis were dehumanized in the most horrific way on October 7. And the hostages have been dehumanized every day since. But that cannot be a license to dehumanize others,” he added.

The Palestinian death toll from four months of war has reached 27,707, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory. That includes 123 bodies brought to hospitals in just the last 24 hours, it said Wednesday. At least 11,000 wounded people need to be urgently evacuated from Gaza, it said.

The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures but says most of the dead have been women and children.

The violence in Gaza has drawn the attention of the United Nations’ top court, which last month ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza. But the panel stopped short of ordering an end to the offensive. (Associated Press)

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May today be a better day.

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