We seem just now to be at a pause with respect to a number of issues. This allows for some random thoughts about what is going on in our world. Call it, perhaps, the calm before the storm after which, inevitably, all Hell is likely to break loose. Regardless, this intermission is an opportunity to take a step back and ponder some matters that might otherwise become buried by the usual shock and awe of the news cycle.
 
Anti-Semitism Redux
 
Three thoughts about the pro-Palestinian demonstrations consuming college campuses across the nation:

1. How come these students, anguished about Gaza, aren’t equally upset—or upset at all—about Russia’s brutal and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine? Or Bashar al-Assad’s genocide against his own people? Etc., etc.
2. Why aren’t the student demonstrators clamoring for the release of the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas? Or condemning Hamas for its October 7, 2023 atrocities?
3. Would they be taking place at all if Israel were not a Jewish state?

 
It never takes much for anti-Semitic hate, eternally just below the surface, to percolate up and for colleges and universities to spout the usual drivel about balancing free speech vs. hate speech. Here we are again.
 
There are legitimate grounds for protests against Israel’s prosecution of its war in Gaza, but not for the spillover into Jewish hate and endorsement of the aims of Hamas, the perpetrators of this war, namely the annihilation of Israel and its Jewish population. President Biden, fearful of the impact of criticizing the Democrats’ left wing, has inexplicably adopted the Trump Charlottesville strategy—“there are fine people on both sides.” That’s a mistake. Sometimes leaders have to lead.
 
The Blood on Mike Johnson’s Hands
 
House Speaker Mike Johnson is earning high praise from mainstream media editors and op-ed columnists for getting Ukraine aid approved by the House after many months of ostrich-like avoidance.
 
Not so fast.
 
While Johnson dithered, Ukraine suffered more than 10,000 military and 3,000 civilian casualties and lost more territory to the Russian invaders. Russia’s ammunition advantage escalated to a 10:1 ratio. Ukraine’s anti-aircraft defenses withered away to the point where the beleaguered nation could no longer protect its key infrastructure or its people. Statista.com reports that Russia’s aircraft advantage has grown to 13:1. It has seven times the number of armored vehicles as Ukraine, eight times as many tanks, and almost seven times as many artillery pieces. These disproportions skyrocketed during the months that Johnson fiddled while Kyiv burned. Johnson and the minority of Republicans who voted with him on Ukraine aid finally did the right thing, but only after more than half-a-year doing all the wrong things. While thousands died and Ukraine was brought to the brink of defeat. Johnson and the Grand Old Potty failed to do their job. He deserves some credit, of course, for defying the Putin-favoring crazies to his far right, but no medals, please.
 
Trump’s Supreme Court Victory
 
Trump won his presidential immunity case before the Supreme Court long before April 25’s oral argument.
 
By taking this nothing-burger case in the first place and then leisurely scheduling it, the Court conservatives (a nice way of saying “extremists”) signed on to the Trump plot to delay his other three criminal cases beyond the election.
 
The Court also went way off the reservation by conflating the specific issue in this case—whether Trump is immune from prosecution for attempting a coup d’état—with the broader question of whether future presidents have immunity from criminal prosecution for future acts. This is not what courts do. So much for the principle—much touted by Chief Justice Roberts, of deciding cases on the narrowest possible basis. Instead, the Court conservatives signaled that that will take the macro-cosmological view and, as Justice Gorsuch said: “We’re writing a rule for the ages,” something no one asked them to do. Isn’t this what the Right complains liberal judges do?
 
Not a single one of Trump’s White House predecessors ever raised this issue. They functioned quite well for 235 years absent absolute immunity.
 
Even if the Court shoots down Trump’s absurd claim, his January 6 case is unlikely to move forward before the election. The Court can partially make up for its dilatory approach by immediately reaching a decision to approve the lower courts’ decisions against Trump. Anything else underscores its creeping corruption and plummeting public prestige.
 
China Dopes Up…
 
…in preparation for the Paris Olympics.
 
Three months and change out from the beginning of the Paris Olympics, the athletic world is coping with yet another appalling doping scandal. The story of across-the-board cheating comes from one of the usual suspects: China. Once again, however, it is the purported top doping cop, the badly mis-named World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), that appears to be complicit in conspiring with China to cover-up the scandal.
 
Some of the 23 Chinese athletes implicated this time won medals at the last Olympics. Given the rampant, systemic nature of Chinese doping, China should be banned from any participation in the Paris games. So, too, should Russia, which WADA and the always suspect International Olympic Committee (IOC) have been treating with kid gloves for decades.
 
The IOC has yet to correct one of the biggest injustices in its checkered history: the years-long East German doping program that raked in scores of tainted medals in track, swimming, rowing and other sports, all of which was revealed when East Germany ceased to exist and its STASI secret police files were opened. It’s never too late to award those medals to the real winners, many of them Americans. But don’t expect the IOC to do the right thing. We should live so long.
 
We Need to Be Done with Tariffs
 
Donald Trump recklessly imposed billions of dollars of tariffs on Chinese goods coming into the U.S. This, plus the billions he gave to U.S. farmers to compensate them for their loss of sales when China reciprocated, amounted to a tax on every American consumer while also contributing to rising inflation.
 
Curiously, Joe Biden retained most of the Trump tariffs. This makes no sense, especially since reducing them would also reduce prices and enable him to do something concrete to counter the ravages of inflation.
 
The Futile Search for Spines
 
Remember all those Republicans whose harsh criticisms of Donald Trump deluded us into thinking that they had finally seen the light about this reptilian reprobate? Now, only months later, they have placed their only recently retrieved spines back in escrow, returned to the Trump fold, and endorsed the disgraced, traitorous creature who has no business being able to run around free, much less occupy the highest office in the land.
 
Stopping the Steal, Act III
 
The current Trump trial, a.k.a. the Stolen Election Case, was Act I in the Republican attempt to overthrow democracy and the rule of law. Act II was the 2020 election, when the MAGA cabal came disturbingly close to succeeding in its quest. Now here we are in 2024, when it is guaranteed that Trump will try once again to commit electoral grand theft. And, if he does not succeed via whatever subversive machinations he foments between now and election day, you can bet the mortgage that he will continue post-election to undermine the result and make January 6, 2021 look like a House party.
 
Given that, it would be useful to know what Democrats and other freedom-loving Americans intend to do about it?
 
Despots Are Lazy
 
Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Donald Trump. Charter members of the Autocrats’ League of Non-Workers. They all rose late, idled around much of the time, and did actual work only when they could no longer avoid it. Hitler and Stalin never got around to working until late afternoon. Trump toddled into the Oval Office around 11:30 AM. Moreover, any real work these guys did was often interrupted by distractions: Hitler enjoyed haranguing captive audiences of sycophants with endless lectures about subjects he knew nothing about. Stalin broke up military strategy conferences with alcoholic binges marked by ordering his field marshals and Politburo colleagues to perform Georgian dances. Trump, blessed with the attention span of a distracted gnat, interrupted intelligence briefings in order to tune into the latest lie-laden Fox News broadcast or to tweet out a word-salad tirade.
 
In all three cases, these were bad looks that had to be concealed from the public. German and Soviet newsreels showed der Führer and Uncle Joe hard at work on behalf of the fatherland and motherland, respectively.  Trump’s daily schedule typically labeled the mornings “Executive Time” without further explanation.
 
Tyranny sure beats work.
 
Dick Hermann
April 29, 2024

​Tax Day, April 15, marked Day One of Donald Trump’s first criminal trial. The timing, given his long and dubious history as a tax evader, is strangely appropriate.
 
Incomprehensively, the media insists on labeling this trial as the “hush money” case. It is, however, much more than merely paying off a porn star with whom Trump appears to have had a one-night stand for her silence. Trivializing this trial in this manner is a serious mistake.
 
What this case really is about is a conspiracy to subvert a presidential election, a frontal assault on democracy that was unprecedented, and an ominous portent of things to come should our national nightmare—a second Trump term—come to pass. In the weeks leading up to the 2016 election, and hard on the heels of the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape wherein Trump bragged about his sexual assaults, he panicked when he realized that further revelations of his squalid behavior could jeopardize his electoral chances. It was time to (1) buy Ms. Daniels/Clifford’s silence, and (2) activate his “catch-and-kill” arrangement with a scandal sheet. The result: Thanks to the distortion of the Electoral College, Trump was elected president despite falling 2.9 million votes behind his opponent.
 
We will never know if Trump’s dodges and deceptions were the difference in his narrow victory. James Comey, the self-aggrandizing fool of an FBI chief whose abysmal judgment severely damaged Hillary Clinton, and Vladimir Putin, whose massive election interference on Trump’s behalf boosted his candidacy, certainly contributed to his win. It is not unreasonable, however, to conclude that Trump would not have won had the information he suppressed become public.
 
Thus, it was the 2016 election that was stolen and America has suffered tremendously, first from Trump’s chaotic and corrupt presidency, and then from his toxic post-presidential presence and conduct ever since.
 
The media needs to get serious and stop belittling this trial. Call it what it is: a case about corrupting the electoral process resulting in grand theft of an election.
 
Dick Hermann
April 20, 2024

It becomes more difficult with every passing day to keep current with Donald Trump’s barefaced lies, obvious scams and assorted grifts. Selling sneakers and bibles, for example, in desperate attempts to squeeze MAGAts for their last dimes in order to pay his attorneys. While his grifts are unseemly, they pale in comparison to his monumental criminality and the falsehoods he circulates that resonate with his duped voters:

• In this latter category, one of His Fraudulency’s worst and most shameless fictions is that crime is skyrocketing whereas in fact it is plummeting. This is in keeping with Trump’s “American Carnage” campaign that also includes lies about open borders, and foreign leaders’ supposed disrespect for Joe Biden and the United States. The FBI reports that violent crime in the 21st century peaked in 2020 (when guess who was President) and has since declined significantly. He compares the U.S. to a crime-ridden Ninth Circle of Hell, zeroing in on major cities in “blue states.” In fact, states with the highest crime rates are run by Republican governors and legislatures.

• He showed up in Michigan, raged about a young woman murdered by an illegal alien and lied about meeting with her family (the family says he did not). Every Trump rally is replete with incendiary language about “animals” leaving foreign jails and pouring into the U.S. intent on committing crimes. In fact, studies show that these folks are more law-abiding than U.S. citizens.

• Last week, Trump appeared at the wake for a Long Island police officer who was killed during a traffic stop where he called the murder “such a sad, sad event, such a horrible thing….The police are the greatest people we have. There’s nothing and there’s nobody like them. And this should never happen.” But then, we know he does not feel that way about all police. Just days before and at all of his Nuremberg-style rallies since, he praised the thousands of his insurrectionist supporters who stormed the Capitol and attacked police officers. He called these traitors “unbelievable patriots,” the ones among them convicted and jailed for their crimes “hostages” and “political prisoners,” and said he would pardon them once he is president again.

• He is under indictment in four criminal trials totaling 88 charges.

• He has been found civilly liable for sexual assault and is accused by more than two dozen women of similar disgusting behavior.

• He has been found civilly liable for a fraud of mythic proportions for inflating the value of his properties in order to secure cheaper loans.

• He stole hundreds of classified documents and stored them in bathrooms, among other public places at his Palm Beach citadel.

• He destroyed presidential records while in office.

• He pardoned hundreds of criminals, including felons who aided and abetted his treasonous insurrection.

• He was twice impeached for what, in a civilian context, would have been deemed criminal acts.

• He accepted campaign contributions in excess of the legal limit and failed to report certain campaign contributions as required by law.

• He accepted millions of dollars of gifts and “emoluments” from both foreign and domestic individuals and organizations in contravention of the Constitution.

• Trump and the MAGAts want to defund both the Justice Department and the FBI, the premier law enforcement and anti-crime organizations in the nation.

 
In addition to his multitude of both charged and uncharged crimes, Trump is a master at inciting criminal acts. Many times, his incendiary rhetoric has prompted others to violence. An ABC News nationwide review identified at least 54 criminal cases where Trump was invoked in direct connection with violent acts, threats of violence or allegations of assault. The ABC review found that in at least 12 cases perpetrators acclaimed Trump while or immediately after physically assaulting innocent victims. In another 18 cases, perps cheered or defended Trump while taunting or threatening others. “And in another 10 cases, Trump and his rhetoric were cited in court to explain a defendant's violent or threatening behavior.”
 
Bottom line: Trump’s criminality has known no bounds, and is sure to escalate should he win back the White House.
 
Dick Hermann
March 13, 2024

Increasingly, the American Jewish community has been finding itself in an impossible situation regarding Israel. The Israel Defense Force’s (IDF) horrific attack on a pre-approved (by the IDF), easily identifiable, well-marked World Central Kitchen convoy (its name and logo were both large and prominent on the vehicles’ roofs) delivering desperately needed food to starving Gazans may be the last straw. I find it hard to believe that, as Prime Minister Netanyahu and the IDF claim, this was an accident.
 
Breaking with Israel is not easy. It is painful in the extreme. It has been building for years during the two-decade, increasingly authoritarian reign of Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Trump-like ego, escalating disregard for democratic norms and lust for absolute power keeps moving his country further and further into a right-wing abyss.
 
When shortly after the end of World War II the United Nations voted to establish a homeland for the Jewish people, whose small numbers had just been halved by the worst genocide in history, American Jews rejoiced and felt a pride that the 2,000-year diaspora had never known. They continued to support Israel with money and passion through its birth pangs when it was confronted by the armies of all of the Arab nations bordering it who were intent on eradicating it and its population from the face of the Earth. Their backing endured unwavering through the 1956, 1967 and 1973 wars when, once again, Israel’s very existence was threatened. Although doubts began to trouble American Jews when Netanyahu vastly expanded West Bank settlements and moved far to the right, support for Israel remained strong.
 
Just as important was the United States’ commitment to Israel’s survival. It was the first nation to recognize the Jewish state in 1948 and, since then, has provided foreign aid, including massive amounts of military assistance, in amounts larger than those given to any other nation. Israel has had privileged access to our most advanced military platforms and technologies. Over the years, Israel has received about $300 billion (adjusted for inflation) in total economic and military assistance. Without American weapons, Israel would not have survived.
 
Now both the U.S. and American Jewry’s “Israel Right or Wrong” commitments are wavering. While the latter’s support, especially among the young, is dissipating, it is also true that older Jews are having second thoughts. U.S. military support continues unabated for now. However, the Biden administration holds virtually all of the cards. Expressing outrage, however, is meaningless without some action backing it up. The same day as the murderous attack on the aid convoy, the U.S. authorized re-supplying Israel with 1,800 bombs. This is a bad look and could cost Biden the election. If Netanyahu continues his reckless, brutal campaign in Gaza and unconcern for human suffering, the U.S. needs to consider cutting back or even cutting off military assistance. That’s a pretty big stick in favor of removing Netanyahu from the picture ASAP. We should know by now from our experiences with people like Putin, Kim and Trump that trying to reason with a sociopath like Netanyahu is pointless.

​Netanyahu is now reaping the “rewards” of years of actually bolstering Hamas in Gaza in an attempt to discredit the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. In the way he has conducted this war, he has frittered away the world’s sympathy for the October 7 massacre of more than 1,200 Israelis. This is a blunder of historic proportions. All of the goodwill and empathy for Israel in the U.S. and the West has been squandered. It may never be recouped. Which regime is seen as the pariah state now? Good job, Bibi!
 
It remains to be seen if, once Netanyahu departs the scene, both the U.S. and the American Jewish community will revert to their heretofore steadfast support for the Middle East’s only democracy.
 
Dick Hermann
April 5, 2024