Queen for... 6 Hours?

It's no longer enough to churn through speakers-designate at the rate of one per day. Yesterday, the House Republican Conference managed to drop a refrigerator on one speaker-designate in the first part of the day, and then to replace him with a different speaker-designate in the second part of the day.

For roughly 6 hours yesterday, your speaker-designate was House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN). He triumphed after several rounds of secret voting that whittled a list of eight contenders down to one. You had to figure that, of the options that had not already been rejected (i.e., Kevin McCarthy, R-CA; Steve Scalise, R-LA; and Jim Jordan, R-OH), he had the best chance to win the gavel. After all, counting votes, and bringing holdouts into line, is literally his job.

There was only one small fly in the ointment, however: Donald Trump is angry at Emmer. Why? Well, it is true that the Representative did not vote to reject electoral votes in 2020, and that he did vote to keep the government open a few weeks ago, and that he's OK with same-sex marriage. These things were problems for some of the Freedom Caucusers, but they are apparently not what set the former president off. No, the big problem is that Emmer sent a tweet on Monday, in response to a Trump video, that said: "Thank you, Mr. President. If my colleagues elect me Speaker of the House, I look forward to continuing our strong working relationship."

The truth is that Emmer and Trump have a very up-and-down relationship, and that Emmer is nowhere as close to the former president as the tweet implies. Trump has no problem telling lies himself, but he's outraged when others do it, particularly when those lies endeavor to steal some of his mojo. So, after seeing the tweet, Trump fired up his boutique social media platform and sent this:

I have many wonderful friends wanting to be Speaker of the House, and some are truly great Warriors. RINO Tom Emmer, who I do not know well, is not one of them. He fought me all the way, and actually spent more time defending Ilhan Omar, than he did me—He is totally out-of-touch with Republican Voters. I believe he has now learned his lesson, because he is saying that he is Pro-Trump all the way, but who can ever be sure? Has he only changed because that's what it takes to win? The Republican Party cannot take that chance, because that's not where the America First Voters are. Voting for a Globalist RINO like Tom Emmer would be a tragic mistake!

Trump then started working the phones, making clear to allies in the House that voting for Emmer was unacceptable. With a reported 26 hard "no" votes, Emmer—who, again, knows how to count to 217—knew it was hopeless and dropped out. Again, Trump can't get a person elected speaker, but he can certainly stop a person from getting elected. The amount of time between "Tweet brought to Trump's attention" and "Emmer is out" was roughly 3 hours.

Thereafter it was back to the drawing board. And after another round of Ranked Choice Voting disguised as "not Ranked Choice Voting," your newest speaker-designate is Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA). He is in the midst of his fourth term, and is Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference. That's a leadership position, so he's not exactly a backbencher, but he's also not well known to most of his colleagues. And he might or might not be a member of the Freedom Caucus. For various reasons, the FC treats itself as something of a secret society—it does not publish a list of members, does not answer questions about exactly who is a member and, in fact, generally doesn't meet in the Capitol (preferring to congregate at local watering holes, instead). So, some sources say Johnson is a member, some say he isn't, and there's no good way to make certain. If he's not a member in name, he's certainly a member in spirit, as he's very far right and shares the group's general anti-government outlook. That said, unlike most FCers, he's known for being genial and collegial.

In other words, what we basically have here is a kinder, gentler Jim Jordan who has no known sex scandals lurking in the background. Will that be tolerable to 217 members of the House Republican Conference? The early indications are mixed. In the final round of the pseudo-RCV that named Johnson speaker-designate, there were also 30+ votes for Kevin McCarthy, who was not on the ballot and was not a valid choice. Thereafter, Johnson asked for a closed-doors roll-call vote to see if the Conference would support his candidacy on the floor of the House. In that vote, there were three "present" votes and 22 members who did not bother to attend. Not promising for Johnson, but at least things are moving in the right direction for him, since 25 protest votes are fewer than 30+.

If Johnson comes up short, then the Republican Conference is toying with an idea wherein McCarthy would be returned to the speakership and Jordan would be named his associate speaker. The only way this makes sense is if it allows both sides to save face, declare victory, and get back to the hard work of not governing. Otherwise, if Jordan has any actual powers as associate speaker, then it will make it that much harder to do anything, and will likely leave the House right back where they are now within months or weeks. And if Jordan has no powers as associate speaker, then he's going to get cranky, which will likely leave the House right back where they are now within months or weeks.

The Democrats, meanwhile, are doing what they can to squeeze some amusement out of the clown show. On Monday night, party operatives projected this video on the side of the National Gallery of Art East Building, which is down the street from the Capitol:

After the welcome message, it displays images of McCarthy, Jordan, Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Bozo. And you thought Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J were an insane clown posse.

By this time tomorrow, we could well have a new speaker. Or, we might have burned through two, three, even four more speakers-designate. With this reality show, you're always kept guessing. If the Republicans could figure out how to run ads or get corporate sponsors, like a real TV show, they could raise some money for the Party. (Z)

Trump Legal News: Turn, Turn, Turn!

Yesterday, for the third time in as many business days, one of Donald Trump's former lawyers turned on him and took a plea deal in Georgia. The newest canary to sing is Jenna Ellis, who becomes the fourth of the 19 Georgia defendants to cop a plea.

Yet again, reader A.R. in Los Angeles—who, as a lawyer, is better equipped to comment than us—has been kind enough to write up an assessment:

To recap, when last we met our conspirators, Sydney "release the Kraken" Powell had just pled guilty to six misdemeanor counts and will serve 6 years' probation in exchange for testifying against the other 18 remaining defendants. The next to plead guilty was Kenneth "The Cheese" Chesebro (yes, that's actually his nickname, as he's from Wisconsin). He had to plead guilty to a felony and will serve 5 years' probation in exchange for cooperating.

Enter Jenna Ellis. She has now entered a guilty plea to one felony count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings. She was originally charged with two counts: (1) Racketeering (RICO) and (2) solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer. While the earlier plea deals were primarily bad news for Trump, this plea is very bad news for Giuliani. He should invest now in some really heavy-duty hair dye because he'll be sweating more than at that press conference.

The Georgia indictment lays out in granular detail all the various strands in the illegal effort to overturn the result of the 2020 election and keep Trump in power. These strands can be organized into 3 buckets (forgive the mixed metaphor): (1) sow doubt and confusion in the state legislatures in swing states to pressure Republican legislators to take action to disrupt the certification process either at the state or federal level; (2) submit fake electors to Congress to disrupt the certification process on Jan. 6; and (3) access voting machines and steal software to claim the machines are part of a larger plot to rig the election. Chesebro was the architect for the fake electors and Powell orchestrated the voting machine heist in Coffee County. With those guilty pleas, Willis has buckets 2 and 3 covered.

With Ellis, she now has a state's witness for Bucket #1. That was Giuliani's mandate. He was tasked with contacting and pressuring the Republican legislators in key swing states of Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and Nevada. Ellis accompanied him and participated in presentations on all these trips with the exception of Nevada, so no doubt she took part in all the planning and strategy sessions. The scheme was to first disrupt the state certification process on December 14 and when that failed, to put into action their efforts to disrupt the electoral count in Congress. Ellis even penned two memos laying out her theory on how to disrupt the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 and stop the vote count. According to the indictment, she wrote, "the Vice-president [sic] should begin alphabetically in order of the states and coming first to Arizona, not open the purported certification, but simply stop the count at that juncture."

Ellis took the unusual step of addressing the Court and expressed remorse for her actions. She sounded genuine, which would make her testimony against other defendants that much more powerful and persuasive. Quite frankly, Giuliani should be getting his affairs in order. I don't think there's anything he could offer Willis that would cause her to agree to a plea to lesser charges. Not only did he plot to use Georgia officials to overthrow the duly elected president, but he also ruined the lives of two dedicated public servants who were only doing their jobs to ensure a free and fair election. She takes that very seriously and she wants him to be held accountable for those crimes. With the Ellis plea, she's got him.

My guess is the next to flip will be John Eastman—he's running out of time to get a good deal and with his skin tone, orange is really not his color.

Thanks yet again, A.R.! And on that final point, after Chesebro turned traitor, we ran a survey asking readers to predict who would flip next. Here are the results, along with some comments on each (we neglected to ask people to identify themselves, so we can't give credit, unfortunately):

1. Ellis (31.1%):
   
   
   • Her value will diminish with each additional flip. The time is now.
   • We're basically picking the not-always-drunk person who'll run out of money first, right?
   • The weakest link
   
   
2. Eastman (26.9%):
   
   
   • Tough choice between Jeffrey Clark, Mark Meadows, and my choice, as all three might well be in the better positions to connect dots than the rest of the list, so Fani Willis might be pressing hardest on these three to flip. While Giuliani might make the same "cut," it seems he has resigned his fate to others' wallets/hands.
   • He knows he's cooked, he's not as drunk as (soberer than?) Giuliani, and there's no honor among election thieves.
   • I just want to get one of these right for once.
   
   
3. Former White House Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows (12.1%):
   
   
   • Two reasons: (1) He knows the most, and (2) he's too pretty for prison.
   • Powell and Chesebro have the goods on Meadows, so his only way out is to spill on Trump.
   • He's been uncharacteristically quiet. He's already flipped.
   
   
4. Coffee County staffer and fake elector Cathy Latham (6.4%):
   
   
   • She's a bit player and a nobody with waaaay too many charges to fight against.
   • Never underestimate prayer. But also, never underestimate an empty wallet.
   • Low-level flippers are next. This will be the first call the Coffee County staffers make Monday morning.
   
   
5. Coffee County staffer Misty Hampton (4.3%):
   
   
   • Picked one of the minor players at random. I think they, the minors, will all start flipping soon.
   • Low-level participant that will likely have trouble paying for legal counsel; same goes for the other Coffee County staffers.
   • Powell folded like a cheap lawn chair; she may also play Misty for a fall girl and fling her under the bus. Why would Coffee County Klan Collaborator want to go to trial?
   
   
6. Giuliani (3.9%):
   
   
   • No money, mo' problems.
   • He has so many external forces acting on him, seemingly more than others. Also, it would be the schadenfreude to end all schadenfreude.
   • Wishful thinking.
   
   
7. Fake elector Ray Smith (2.5%):
   
   
   • Sardine among big fish with 12 counts charged. Waiting for the cavalcade of pleas.
   • Presumably does not have the financial resources for competent defense lawyers long term.
   • Facing 12 charges, he has the most to lose.
   
   
8. Former DoJ official Jeffrey Clark (2.4%):
   
   
   • He's a dope and a weasel, so will save his own skin. The dope part is because he left a paper trail for his crimes.
   • Just a guess between him, John Eastman and Mark Meadows
   • My only hesitation is that he's a youngish guy who might lose his law license, and thus his profession. May be worth it to him to roll the dice.
   
   
9. Fake elector David Shafer (2%):
   
   
   • That's a lot of charges just for a fake elector.
   • As former head of the Georgia GOP, he may have considerable knowledge about how the elector scam was developed and who was involved on the Georgia end of the plot.
   • Seemed unimportant enough overall, so would get a good deal if he flipped, as he is not a big fish.
   
   
10. There will be no more plea deals (1.7%):
    
    
    • Willis probably has all she needs at this point so there is no more reason to offer a plea deal. Or... I could be wrong!
    • Not for a few months, anyway. Powell and Chesebro were playing a high risk game, and when it didn't work, they cut their losses. Everybody else is delaying until March, hoping something else might come up.
    • Everyone else thinks it's a joke!
    
    
11. Coffee County staffer Scott Graham Hall (0.8%):
    
    
    • It could be any of the Coffee County staffers. This could be their last chance to get out from under. But I also thought the Republicans would go off the deep end and elect Jordan speaker, so what do I know?
    • Hall is merely a placeholder for all the bit players (i.e., not Eastman, Meadows or Ellis). There is no reason that any of them, at this point in time, should continue to fight, and instead should just get the best deal they can, and save attorneys' fees. Based on the first three plea bargains, as long as they agree to cooperate, they should be able to avoid jail time and probably get away with misdemeanor pleas.
    • Easiest target, probably doesn't have a lot of money
    
    
12. Former leader of Black Voices for Trump Harrison William Prescott Floyd (0.7%):
    
    
    • No money.
    • Maybe Fani Willis will take pity on a fellow African American?
    • Does he really want to put his fate in the hands of a public defender, up against the mighty Willis legal machine?
    
    
13. Trump campaign staffer Michael Roman (0.66%):
    
    
    • Staffer, not a pol.
    • Cannot afford to lose his case.
    • Because if a Roman flips, then it sets up the headline "Et tu, Brute?"
    
    
14. Giver of false testimony Robert Cheeley (0.63%):
    
    
    • Cheeley has the most to lose. He was clearly deeply involved in the plot, so he has a lot of dirt. And he is a major partner in a law firm. If he cuts a deal like the first two, he can save his job and his business. He also has no personal relationship to Trump, something that might hold back Rudy and Eastman.
    • His particular misdeeds are SO easy to prove. They are literally "on the record."
    • Just a hunch.
    
    
15. Donald Trump (0.6%):
    
    
    • It wouldn't be a surprise to see Trump try to flip on everybody else in a desperate attempt to save himself.
    • On the advice of his counsel, Jesus Christ (who has been sketched sitting next to him in the New York courtroom), Trump confesses his sins and asks for forgiveness. Fani turns the other cheek.
    • I just want to be able to say I predicted Trump in the 1/1x10^100th chance that he flips next.
    
    
16. Publicist Trevian C. Kutti (0.5%):
    
    
    • The only one whose indictment actively undermines their career.
    • Small fish, chosen at random.
    • There have been no guilty pleas thus far for "manner and method of the enterprise," the harassment and intimidation of Fulton County Election Worker Ruby Freeman. A guilty plea by either Kutti or Floyd will put more pressure on Stephen Lee to flip.
    
    
17. Pastor Stephen Cliffgard Lee (0.45%):
    
    
    • It's not so much which defendant wants to flip but what crimes Willis wants to knock down. Powell and Chesebro cover fake electors and voting machines. Next is intimidating poll workers.
    • I randomly chose someone I haven't heard of because I figure a small fish won't have the resources to fight this.
    • Lee might be talking to a higher power more frequently than the others and "see the light" sooner.
    
    
18. State Senator and fake elector Shawn Still (0.4%):
    
    
    • With The Cheese taking a plea deal, I think the fake electors are the next most likely batch. They won't have the monetary resources to keep fighting.
    • I would have said Giuliani, but I think he's trying to bide his time. A state senator is always looking to his own next election and doesn't want to damage his reelection chances.
    • Too many choices of smaller fish, a better question would have been "Who will be the biggest fish to reach a plea deal?"

Some good thoughts, some funny thoughts, and some good and funny thoughts. The third Meadows commenter, as it turns out, is right... at least in part. There's no indication the former White House Chief of Staff has flipped in Georgia, but according to ABC News, he has been granted federal immunity by Jack Smith, and has already sat with the Special Counsel's team for several interviews. The most significant thing Meadows reportedly said is that he told Trump several times that the election was not stolen, and that it was as secure as any presidential election has ever been. In view of the fact that the bridge is now officially burned, it's hard to see why Meadows wouldn't flip in Georgia, unless Willis is not offering a deal (or is not offering a sweet enough deal).

Meanwhile, in case it wasn't enough for Trump to get stabbed in the back in Georgia, and also in Washington, he got to sit in court yesterday and watch former fixer Michael Cohen spill all kinds of dirt. Cohen said, among other things, that Trump is a "proven liar" (certainly true) and that when it was necessary to assign a value to a property, or to judge his former boss' net worth, Trump would just pull a number out of thin air and then order CFO Allen Weisselberg and his staff to cook up paperwork that supported the figure. Trump's legal team tried to impeach the witness by pointing out that he's been convicted of perjury. That is true, Cohen has been, but "the witness is a liar" generally only works when the defendant isn't an even bigger liar, which does not appear to be the case here.

In short, not a great day for the former president on the legal front. That will happen, as we understand it, when you're facing 91 felony counts in four different jurisdictions. (Z)

Biden Tells Granite State to Kick Rocks

This is not much of a surprise, but Joe Biden made it official yesterday that he will not file for the New Hampshire presidential primary. This being the case, his name will not appear on the ballot.

The point here, of course, is to try to move South Carolina to the front of the line, since that would give Black voters a bigger voice in the choice of nominee. The only problems are: (1) New Hampshire takes great pride in its first-in-line status and will not give that up easily, and (2) the Democrats don't control any part of South Carolina's government, and so can't actually compel that state to move up its primary. If the DNC and Biden had figured out a way around these two problems, or at least one of the two, then the President's maneuvering might make more sense. As it is, the primary impacts appear to be: (1) aggravating voters in purple New Hampshire and (2) potentially allowing some minor candidate, like Marianne Williamson or Rep. Dean Phillips (DFL-MN), to "win" the primary.

As to #1, clearly Biden and the DNC think there is some benefit here that makes things worthwhile. Maybe they think that it's going to take several cycles for the idea to sink in that New Hampshire can't always go first, and they decided that there was no time like the present to get the process started. Or maybe they think Black voters will appreciate the gesture, even if it doesn't bear fruit. Who knows? As to #2, there is likely to be a write-in campaign that will secure the state for Biden anyhow, even if he's not listed on the ballot. And even if one of the vanity candidates "wins," nobody's going to take that seriously. And even if they do, the "wins" will quickly be forgotten once South Carolina takes its turn on Feb. 3 and Nevada does the same on Feb. 6 (the date of the New Hampshire primary is not set, as yet, but will likely be January 22). (Z)

It's a Two-Way Race in Maryland

Given that Maryland is very blue (D+14), and given that it hasn't elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 1980, it's a given that the winner of the Democratic primary for the seat being vacated by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) is going to be the Old Line State's next U.S. Senator. The choice facing Democratic voters got a little easier this weekend, as Montgomery County Councilman Will Jawando dropped out of the running.

Jawando was the first to enter the race, despite not having much name recognition. Since then, it's been an uphill battle for him. He's gotten virtually no endorsements (his highest-profile one was from Rep. Lauren Underwood, which would be more helpful if she didn't represent... Illinois), his fundraising has been anemic (less than $750,000 when both of his rivals have had eight-figure takes), and while there have been no public polls, the internal polls must be pretty bad. In any event, he's decided there's no lane for him, and so he's going to look for some other job to run for.

That leaves Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, who is Black and has most of the Democratic establishment behind her, and Rep. David Trone (D-MD), who is white and is wealthy enough to self-fund. They're both fairly lefty, so the election will likely be decided by demographics and by which commodity is more valuable: the machine or the money. (Z)

The War in Israel, Part IV: He Who Controls (Mis)information...

Yesterday, we had an item talking about how the future of the world is in the hands of 8-10 people. Today, an item about how the lion's share of misinformation related to the war in Israel is in the hands of just 7 people. Well, on the platform formerly known as Twitter, at least.

That is the conclusion of a new study from the University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public. In a real-life illustration of the old line that "a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes," the owners (or owner?) of seven relatively nondescript Twitter/X accounts utilized their knowledge of the site's algorithms, plus the ability to pay $8/month to be "verified" and prioritized, to score 1.6 billion views of their content in just the first 3 days of the Israel-Hamas conflict. And virtually all the content is somewhere between "misleading" and "outright false."

Examples of some of the tweets that have gotten broad attention:

• A video purporting to show a member of Hamas shooting down an Israeli helicopter. It's actually a cutscene from the video game Arma 3.
  
  
• A tweet claiming that Israel has authorized a nuclear strike on Gaza.
  
  
• A tweet claiming that Benjamin Netanyahu has been hospitalized.
  
  
• A tweet claiming the Taliban has sought approval from the Iranian government to travel to Gaza.
  
  
• A video purporting to show an Israeli attack against a high-rise in Gaza. In fact, the video is 20 years old.

The agenda behind the ongoing misinformation campaign appears to be... "create chaos." In other words, the misinformation does not particularly serve the needs of one side or the other in the Israeli war. Russia certainly likes chaos, as does China, so it's at least possible that they're behind it, but it's also entirely possible that we're just dealing with toxic-masculinity-type individuals who think it's funny to "put one over" on millions of people.

Back in the early days of the platform, it was actually quite valuable as a source of on-the-scene, near-realtime information. Since Elon Musk came along, not so much. He and his ventriloquist dummy Linda Yaccarino claim that they are working hard to fight misinformation, but Musk eliminated those staffers months ago (while still finding resources to combat nudity on the platform, incidentally), and also got rid of the option to report misinformation to the site's management. Oh, and he's also personally promoted several of the seven accounts responsible for the misinformation.

There is every reason to believe that Musk's plan, all along, was to turn his toy into a megaphone for various forms of right-wing bigotry and misinformation, and by all indications he is succeeding. The misinformation and bigotry are flourishing, while older, more established users are fleeing in droves. By this time next year, the transition to the moderately more successful version of Parler should be all but complete. (Z)

The War in Israel, Part V: Readers Weigh In, Again

Since Hamas launched its sneak attack on Israel, we've gotten dozens of variants of this question from M.Z. in Southwest Harbor, ME: "I am left to wonder what the end game is with all this. Can anyone tell me what a peaceful future for Israel looks like?"

This is not a question we are enthusiastic about answering, given how far it is from our areas of expertise (or even our areas of basic competence). However, we've gotten some letters on the subject that seem to lay out the more realistic options. So, that will be the theme of today's reader responses. First, P.D.N. in La Mesa, CA:

I want to say a couple of things about this war. First, I want Israel to destroy Hamas once and for all. The whole world wants this. Israel has to avenge all the people Hamas murdered and it is justified in doing so. I say this as someone more than sympathetic to the Palestinians and also as someone who has been critical of the Israeli government and its general treatment of the Palestinians.

The Israelis are doing all they can to minimize civilian casualties. Some innocent people are going to die, unfortunately. War is cruel and unfair. At their best, human societies attempt to temper that violence but it is still unavoidable. While it is possible an Israel air strike hit that hospital, I doubt it. No one in Israel would order that, and Israeli weaponry, which is of very high quality, is not likely to malfunction with such catastrophic effect. Anyone who didn't evacuate northern Gaza is either very frail or else wants to remain. I'm going to guess 99% are Hamas fighters and their families. I'm a soft-hearted person—I was a minister after all—but William T. Sherman understood the calculus of war: the crueler it is, the sooner it is over.

David Ignatius notes that, in the Middle East, wars tend to create peace. When this war is over, I foresee several consequences:

1. Netanyahu will be gone, loathed, unloved, and vilified for being self-absorbed and not preventing a terrible disaster for the Israeli people.
   
   
2. The settlements on the West Bank will be cut back, some land returned to the Palestinians, and with a new generation of leadership among the Palestinians, a homeland of their own will emerge as a neutral state without an army. The Palestinians are a resourceful people and with investment will prosper.
   
   
3. Hamas will be defeated and destroyed utterly. The U.N. then takes over the Gaza Strip and with Arab investment creates another Palestinian homeland, this one also a neutral state without an army.

And R.P. in New York City, NY:

I have read the comments and responses to comments regarding the Israel/Hamas conflict with interest and concern. I do not think anyone should have been surprised that Hamas and the Palestinian people finally lashed out with violence after decades of effective apartheid in Israel and the continuous bulldozing of Palestinian homes in the West Bank, all to build more kibbutzim for Israeli settlers in violation of U.N. agreements. That doesn't mean I or anyone agrees with the level of violence exhibited by Hamas. Israel does bear some blame, but the excess violence perpetrated by Hamas was beyond what is acceptable. I also do not criticize the inevitable response to flatten Gaza, though if Israel wants to keep my support, they need to stay within the realms of civilized warfare.

When this is all over, I hope both sides agree that the apartheid apparatus should be removed and a better solution needs to be put in place. Two options really are all that are available. Live together in one state where all are accepted as citizens and given the same rights, including being integrated into the military. The other option is the two-state solution.

Finally, G.T.M. in Vancouver, BC, Canada:

Turning the matter on its head, it occurs to me that there IS a permanent solution to the "Israel/Palestine Sortawar" AND that it's a pretty simple one at that. What is it?

International recognition of "Palestine" as a sovereign and independent country. The borders could be fixed at what they were before the Israeli government allowed/encouraged colonization in the territory and those colonizing people would then become dual citizenship holders in both Palestine and Israel. If those people are unhappy to be no longer living in Israel, they could move back to Israel and be welcomed with open arms. If those people wanted to stay where they were, they could vote in Palestinian elections and have their say in choosing a government that would act in the way that they wanted it to act.

On the flip side of that coin, if there were attacks, such as the recent Hamas attack coming out of Palestine, then the Israeli government would be perfectly entitled, under international law, to hold the government of Palestine responsible—even to the extent of declaring war on Palestine, invading it, and either ousting its government in favor of one that it prefers or of incorporating the now conquered territory into Israel. [The brutal fact of international law is that a "people" is still "entitled" to have their own country, consisting of as much, or as little, territory as that "people" can take and hold against all comers.]

A quick first step in that direction would be for the U.S. government to formally recognize the country of Palestine and to urge the other members of the international associations where it is a member to do the same. [Aside: The U.S. government could make having internationally supervised and conducted elections to choose a legal government in accordance with the constitution of Palestine a precondition of formal recognition. The Palestinians would be hard pressed to come up with a giggle-proof reason for NOT having open, honest, free, and fair elections while still maintaining any semblance of being rational people.]

An added benefit of such a move is that it would put a whole lot of pressure on the other Middle Eastern nations to also grant formal recognition of Palestine, and that would mean that those nations would then be covered by their international treaty obligations concerning the "prevention of aggressive war" (whether initiated by or against Palestine).

Thanks, all.

We have at least one more item we want to write on this subject, possibly two, and we also got very good feedback in response to the readers' letters we ran yesterday. So, we'll probably run more of those. If any reader cares to comment, the mailbox is always open. We would be particularly appreciative of messages from readers who can speak to the Palestinian perspective. (Z)

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