IN THE NEWS

All the religious wars that have caused blood to be shed for centuries arise from passionate feelings and facile counter-positions, such as Us and Them, good and bad, white and black.

-Umberto Eco

Outrage at Chuck Schumer’s Speech: The Pro-Israel Right Wants to Eat Its Cake Too

Murtaza Hussain © THE INTERCEPT
March 15, 2024

ON THURSDAY, SENATE Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., gave a speech that provoked anger from right-wing supporters of Israel, many who described it as a regime-change effort targeting Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. The roughly 40-minute speech, delivered by Schumer on the floor of the Senate, attacked Hamas as well as critics of Israel, while vowing that the U.S. would defend and support Israel through any crises it faced. But Schumer also took direct aim at Netanyahu, describing his government as “an obstacle to peace” and saying that his coalition government “no longer fits the needs of Israel.”

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It is not enough for us to restrain from doing evil, unless we shall also do good.

-Saint Jerome

Emails show how a right-wing group steers GOP leaders on major policy issues

By Daniel Medina and Bob Ortega, © CNN
March 17, 2024

When Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft jumped into the state’s gubernatorial race last year, the Republican vowed to tackle a slew of culture war issues, promising to fight the “woke politics” of “left-wing” banks and touting how he used his position to enact a regulation targeting those financial firms.

Ashcroft also said candidates shouldn’t focus on issues that let the one percent “force their beliefs on 99 percent of the population.”

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Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.

-Saint Augustine

Donald Trump Isn’t Done Transforming the Supreme Court

BILL BLUM, © Truthdig
March 12, 2024

Donald Trump’s greatest presidential achievement was remaking the U.S. Supreme Court. By appointing three young and doctrinaire judicial “originalists” to the bench—Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett—Trump ensured that the Court would be dominated by a six-three conservative supermajority for years to come.

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Action without a name, a ‘who’ attached to it, is meaningless.

-Saint Jerome

‘If I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath’: Trump campaign downplays remarks

BY MEG KINNARD AND JILL COLVIN, © The Los Angeles Times
March 16, 2024

Former President Trump warned of a “bloodbath” if he loses in November, and claimed that he — not President Biden — will protect Social Security, as he campaigned for Senate candidate Bernie Moreno in Ohio.
Trump, speaking Saturday on a wind-whipped airfield outside Dayton, praised his chosen candidate in the Senate race as an “‘America first’ champion” and a “political outsider who has spent his entire life building up Ohio communities.”

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