#elections have consequences

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

History Repeating Itself 💔

Joe Biden’s Role in the Yom Kippur War

Joe Biden had his first meeting with an Israeli leader, Golda Meir, on the eve of the Yom Kippur war, right after meeting with officials in Cairo. During the then junior senator’s meeting with Meir, Biden suggested that Israel make a unilateral withdrawal from settlements for peace, criticizing the settlement policies of the Labor Party, and suggesting they represent a form of “creeping annexation.” Though Biden assured Meir that Egyptian officials were convinced of Israel’s military superiority, 40 days later, Sadat initiated a surprise attack against Israel.

This is the gist of a bombshell tweet from Israel’s Channel 13 reporter Nadav Eyal containing excerpts from a classified memo from an Israeli official who attended that fateful meeting. While it may have been the first meeting between Biden and an Israeli prime minister, it was certainly not the last. In subsequent meetings with Israeli prime ministers, Biden threatened Menachem Begin with withholding U.S. aid, and publicly upbraided Benyamin Netanyahu because it had been announced in a town council meeting that 1600 homes were to be built in future in the Jewish Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo (more about this here).   

Joe Biden paints that early meeting with Golda as something precious that cemented in his mind how important Israel is to the Jewish people. It is clear, however, that Joe Biden has always been against the Jewish people settling their indigenous territory. The very thought of Jews planning to build homes in Jerusalem makes him furious. Therefore, contrary to the love fest with Golda he has often described, Biden used the first chance he had to meet with an Israeli prime minister to broach the subject of unilateral concessions.

One wonders how much clout the young senator wielded at that time. Not to mention the timing of subsequent events, with the surprise attack on Israel by Egypt occurring just 40 days after Biden’s meeting with Meir. Is it possible that Golda Meir incurred wider U.S. displeasure by refusing to entertain Biden’s suggestion of unilateral concessions? Was Egypt perhaps emboldened by this state of affairs to attack Israel without fear of American intervention?

During its years in office, Israel fought the 1956 Sinai War, the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War. Labor agreed to UN Resolution 242 and the notion of trading land for peace. Nevertheless, successive Labor governments established settlements in the disputed territories and refrained from dismantling illegal settlements, such as those established in 1968 at Qiryat Arba in Hebron by Rabbi Moshe Levinger, and others set up by Gush Emunim. By 1976, more than thirty settlements had been established on the West Bank; however, their population was fewer than 10,000.

"TODAY’S BLOG:

Joe Biden’s Role in the Yom Kippur War

In January 1973, Joe Biden was sworn in as Senator from Delaware.

September of that year found him in the Middle East on a trip to Egypt. Shortly thereafter, Biden was in Israel in a meeting with Israeli PM Golda Meir.

In that meeting, Biden convinced Meir that Egypt would not attack Israel by convincing her that Egypt thought that Israel had absolute military superiority.

The meeting was documented on October 2, 1973 in a secret letter (below) written by Israel Foreign Ministry official Gideon Jordan. Four days later Egypt attacked Israel.

Foreign Ministry official Gideon Jordan summed up Biden’s words as follows: “Of all the personalities (in Egypt) he (Biden) met, he heard that there was not one of them who disbelieved in Israel’s perfect military superiority and therefore stated that it is not possible for Egypt to go to war against Israel now. According to the people he spoke to Egyptians, time will take its course and when God wills, he will find the solution.”

What this letter calls into question is Joe Biden’s extreme misreading of Arab “personalities” and their intentions. His misreading–and that of Israeli intelligence–had disastrous consequences in the Yom Kippur War. One cannot help but think of similar Biden misreadings when it comes to Iran, Lebanon, and elsewhere.

Gideon Jordan later notes in the secret document that Biden was interested in more than Egypt: “The senator repeatedly said that Israel should do a unilateral act, that is to withdraw from some territories, of course not from those territories of strategic importance such as the Golan Heights, Sharm el-Sheikh and the Gaza Strip–but to withdraw without even any negotiations or an agreement with the Arabs.”

Jordan remarks that Meir immediately disagreed with Biden about unilateral withdrawals without achieving true peace. Again, one cannot help but think about the disastrous Biden unilateral withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the unilateral concessions that the U.S. has demanded from Israel in the current Lebanon “agreement” talks.

The secret letter is below for those of you who read Hebrew:

When Biden met Meir: Joe Biden advised Jewish PM to trade land for peace - The Jerusalem Post

 Biden meeting between Joe Biden and former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, described in a memo published by Israeli reporter Nadav Eyal, sheds light on the former Vice President's thought process at that time, and what he believed Israel should do shortly before the Yom Kippur war broke out. The meeting took place following his return from Egypt where he discussed with Saadat several things, roughly 40 days before the surprise attack that would turn into the Yom Kippur war.

https://www.jpost.com/us-elections/when-biden-met-meir-joe-biden-advised-jewish-pm-to-trade-land-for-peace-646732

#Joe Biden #israel #elections have consequences #heartbreaking 💔

[alwaysbewoke]

#hillary clinton #donald trump #maga #elections have consequences #political opinion #2016 election #democratic party #voter engagement #political consequences #current events #genocide #authoritarianism #political polarization #israel #gaza #gaza strip #palestine #free palestine #anti-semitic #islamophobia #zionism #alwaysbewoke

[deadpresidents]

Despite living through the idiocy of every excruciating moment of the Trump Era, I somehow still find myself amazed at how fucking stupid these crimes are after reading the unsealed indictment. They are reckless and dangerous and serious violations of national security, but also just straight-up dumb. So goddamn dumb. I’m actually surprised that I am still finding ways to be shocked at the stupidity of this one supremely ignorant person. And at the fact that, after four years of having HIM as President of the United States, nearly 75 million Americans voted for him again.

#ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES #Donald Trump #President Trump #Trump Indictment #Politics #History #Presidents #Presidential History #Presidential Politics #2020 Election #2024 Election

[daisiesonafield-blog]

WTF

Link

#homophobia #homophobic society #systemic homophobia #they are coming for all our rights and freedoms #elections have consequences

[thethinkingman]

What will it take to open Americas eyes to the fact that the government and many so called “law enforcement” agencies are working against us? What will it take for America to realize that both Republicans and Democrats are actively working to subvert the constitution, rule of law and individual liberty. Look past the rhetoric and look at the actions and inactions. At this point the country is going to get what it deserves due to our general apathy & laziness. Votes have consequences and as the not so honorable Jeremiah Wright said, Americas chickens are coming home to roost.

#america #lawenforcement #constitution #corruption #data #tech #at&t #att #evidence #protest #riot #j6 #january6 #elections #consequences #vote

#america #usa #riot #protest #elections #vote #elections have consequences #consequences #truth #politics #freedom #constitution #law enforcement #republicans #democrats #enemies

[mostlysignssomeportents]

How (and why) Biden should overcome the Supreme Court to end the debt showdown

’m coming to the HowTheLightGetsIn festival in HAY-ON-WYE with my novel Red Team Blues:

Sun (May 28), 1130AM: The AI Enigma

Mon (May 29), 12PM: Danger and Desire at the Frontier

I’m at OXFORD’s Blackwell’s on May 29 at 7:30PM with Tim Harford.

Then it’s Nottingham, Manchester, London, Edinburgh, and Berlin!

Is it legal for Congress to default on the US national debt? It depends on who you ask. There are a ton of good legal arguments for and against, so perhaps it comes down to what the (degraded, corrupt, illegitimate, partisan) Supreme Court says?

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/04/opinion/biden-administration-debt-republican.html

Put in those terms, it seems like the game was over before it began. Biden should just surrender, hand the most extreme wing of the (degraded, corrupt, illegitimate, authoritarian) Republican Party whatever it wants, even if doing so will push Biden’s approval rating even lower, dangerously close to the next federal election.

In this telling, the Republicans have already won. The decision to let the GOP steal three Supreme Court seats, combined with the decision not to end the debt ceiling charade when Dems had the majorities to do so, means that from now on, we live in the GOP’s shithole country, where the only “freedoms” that matter are the freedom to control others’ bodily autonomy and gender expression; the freedom to exploit labor; the freedom to censor ideas that challenge white nationalist, imperialist messages; and the freedom to menace with open-carry assault weapons:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/opinion/republican-legislatures-abortion-trangender-education.html

In other words, we’re screwed. Might as well dig a hole, climb inside, and pull the dirt in on top of us.

Fuck that.

There are clear majorities in support of the Build Back Better agenda, and even for the watered down Machin Synematic Universe version we got through the Infrastructure Bill. If the Dems could mobilize voters — by convincing them that they were committed to doing things rather than capitulating — they could win strong majorities in 2024. Even in the gerrymandered, antimajoritarian America, electoral wins are possible — they just require overwhelming turnout, rather than the 50.00001% “victories” favored by “data-driven” Democratic consultants (victories that leave the party incapable of governing, and let monsters like Joe Manchin hold the entire nation hostage).

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe doing things won’t mobilize voters. But if we’re already going to stipulate that without significant majorities, the real President of the United States is the three-headed monster (Gorsuch, Thomas, and Roberts), and the billionaires who yank their chains, then what do we have to lose?

There are a lot of things that Biden could try to get through the debt ceiling crisis without giving up on the promises he made to the American people and the programs the American Congress passed. Here’s a couple interesting ones, courtesy of Brad DeLong:

“The Federal Reserve might simply record a negative balance in the Treasury account,” then create an “overdraft” account and pay the US’s obligations out of it;

The Fed could tell retail banks trying to clear government checks that the checks didn’t clear, and the banks could tell their depositors, “ your Treasury check has bounced, but do not worry, we have credited your account, anyway, and will handle this, and please be very grateful to us.”

https://braddelong.substack.com/p/debt-ceiling-what-are-e-fallback

Of course, there are lots of other possibilities: Biden could issue an Executive Order to the effect that the Debt Ceiling violates the 14th Amendment. Or that it violates the Contracts Clause. Or he could order the Treasury to start issuing coupon-free bonds. Or he could just mint the coin:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/23/23734654/government-debt-default-trillion-dollar-platinum-coin

Yes, each of these would end up in front of the (degraded, corrupt, illegitimate, partisan) Supreme Court, who would very likely strike them down.

But writing for The American Prospect, Ryan Cooper argues that this could still be sound tactics:

https://prospect.org/economy/2023-05-25-democrats-fear-supreme-court/

If Biden does something about the debt default, and the Supremes block it, then the default is their fault. What’s more, it’s a mess they absolutely do not want to get into, like deciding which of the US’s creditors will and won’t get paid when they sue over the default. And if the court won’t do it, will they give the president the power to “just pick and choose what gets paid? That would give him a de facto line-item veto over the entire budget, and the Court has already ruled that a law explicitly giving him that power is unconstitutional”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_v._City_of_New_York

Basically, if the Supreme Court kills Biden’s attempt to resolve the budget crisis, then it becomes the Supreme Court’s problem, as everyone owed a federal payment “say, Social Security beneficiaries or military contractors,” brings a case — “There would be tens of millions of such potential litigants.”

So what should Biden do?

Call their bluff.

First, mint the coin. If the court strikes that down, issue coupon-free bonds. If the court strikes that down, declare debt ceilings to violate the 14th Amendment. If the court strikes that down, declare it to violate the Contracts Clause. Keep doing it. Throw in every solution including the kitchen sink — but never give into the GOP’s demand for Biden to violate his promise to the American people and unilaterally tear up laws establishing programs that make our lives better.

This is what Lincoln did when the Supreme Court blocked his attempts to end slavery. It’s what FDR did when they blocked the New Deal. The court doesn’t have an army, it can’t force its decisions on the American people. It doesn’t have a bureaucratic workforce and it can’t take over the administrative branch — hell, they don’t even have the keys to the office buildings.

The Supreme Court’s power comes from its legitimacy, not force of arms, and while they may not act like it, the Supremes know in their bones that without legitimacy, they are nothing:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/25/consequentialism/#dotards-in-robes

The justices in stolen seats have made it clear that they consider themselves to be “a de facto super-legislature that rules in favor of its own partisan policy objectives based on tendentious up-is-down reasoning or no reasoning at all.” This is an illegitimate proposition.

The Supreme Court can’t get any less legitimate. If Biden were to ignore the Supremes and make good law in the teeth of their pronouncements, it couldn’t make the situation any worse than it is today. The Supremes have set themselves against labor law, against climate resiliency, against bodily autonomy, against political accountability, against the rule of law itself. We should not — we must not — cede the power to overrule democratically elected lawmakers and the will of the people.

As Cooper says, Biden should tell the Supremes to go pound sand and then “raise holy hell in speeches and the press to make clear the grotesque irresponsibility of what is happening”:

Here’s an institution trying to cause a completely pointless national default, destroying untold jobs, businesses, and the credit rating of the country, whose elite members are all unelected, where five members of the majority were appointed by a president who took office after losing the popular vote, and one of whom occupies a blatantly stolen seat. Here’s an institution that has struck down anti-corruption laws by the bushel and is openly rolling in oligarch graft like Scrooge McDuck, while declaring itself to be immune from oversight. All that would add to the political pressure on the justices.

If Biden can’t do well for the American people they they will not turn out in the massive majorities that Democrats need to get minimal majorities. If Biden can’t do well for the American people, then Biden — who would lose an election to either Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump if it were called today — will turn America’s predators loose on its people for at least four more years:

https://jacobin.com/2023/05/2024-presidential-election-2016-donald-trump-joe-biden/

And let’s face it, it’ll be Trump. DeSantis is dead in the water. The GOP is the party of out-of-control, swivel-eyed loons who’ve been whipped into a terrorized frenzy by an evil, crapulent senescent Australian billionaire and his freak henchmen, like the taint-tanning frozen food failson. They aren’t going to elect “smart Trump.” They like “stupid Trump” (AKA “Trump”) too much.

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Hay-on-Wye, Oxford, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/26/mint-the-coin-etc-etc/#blitz-em

[Image ID: A kitchen sink. The Supreme Court building protrudes from it. Behind the sink is a window. Joe Biden grins from the other side of the window.]

Image: Joe Ravi (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Panorama_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_Building_at_Dusk.jpg

CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #elections have consequences #president trump again #x-day #debt ceiling #consequentialism #scotus #supreme court #hardball #elections #contracts clause #coupon-free bonds #paul krugman #14th amendment #executive orders

[fresne999]

The federal government has recently changed how they permit hydro projects. Now, the Tribal Nations affected will be consulted. That's a big deal. It's a tangible result of the 2020 election and voting blue. And it's a sliver of recognized sovereignty that could just as easily be lost.

#us politics #native american #nstive sovereignty #elections have consequences

[queenvlion]

🚨📣📢⚠️➡️ FLORIDA 🍊 ⚖️ CITES 16 YEAR OLD NOT MATURE TO GET AN ABORTION #DominoEffect #ElectionsMatter 🗳

#16 year old deemed not mature to get an abortion #florida #state law #federal law #scotus ruling #scotus #brown v board of education #plessyvferguson #lawrence v. texas #obergefell v. hodges #griswold v. connecticut #roe v wade #loving v. virginia #domino effect #elections matter #elections have consequences #democracyontheballot #the more you know

[sher-ee]

Right now, and I mean this instant, delete every digital trace of any menstrual tracking app. Please.

#roe v wade #roe vs. wade #abortion rights #womens bodies #womens rights #period #people who menstruate #pregnancy #elections have consequences #breaking news #girls #women

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

A great speech by Jamie Raskin.

      In a congressional hearing, GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas advanced the “insurrectionists view” of the Second Amendment. That theory asserts that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to allow citizens to “overthrow” the US government. Rep. Jamie Raskin delivered a withering takedown of Roy’s argument. I urge you to watch the video of Jamie Raskin delivering a masterful refutation of the “insurrectionist” view of the Second Amendment. You will be educated and inspired at the same time. See  "Raskin is pretty good at this.”  

In case you don’t believe Justice Thomas.

         In his concurring opinion in Dobbs, Justice Thomas said the Supreme Court should revisit its decisions protecting same-sex marriage and contraception. Many Republicans (and several reactionary justices) sought to defuse the incendiary opinion by suggesting that no one should take Thomas seriously. We have heard that one before! In two votes in the House, 195 GOP representatives voted against legislation to protect access to contraception and 157 GOP representatives voted against protections for same-sex marriage. If you are someone, know someone, or respect someone interested in access to contraception or same-sex marriage, add these issues to the list of reasons to vote against Republicans in 2022. Every single one.

#Robert B. Hubbell #Robert B. Hubbel Newsletter #2022 #Midterms #elections have consequences #insurrectionists

[theredandwhitequeen]

Politics

The school levies have failed twice in 3 months in the city I live in. The total amount of people this last time who voted was 27%. They are going to have to get rid of teachers and staff at least 20 something. They might get rid of sports and things like band, choir, drama, after school activities and nobody gives a shit, because it would cost more money. I’m so mad at these morons, ruining this for kids, making it harder for them to get an education, they voted last year for a seriously terrifying man to the school board who I’m sure is a trumper. The mayor is a republican dip shit who endorsed him. It’s just so damn frustrating, because they don’t make a bigger deal about the special elections and what it will do if they fail. I’m glad my mom is retired from the district and has been for a long time, because it’s so much worse now. Stupid morons are going to be up in arms if sports go away but it will be there fault by not voting or voting no. Vote every election no matter how small. This is the consequence when you don’t.

#washington state #politics #school board #elections matter #elections have consequences #vote like someone else’s life depends on it because it does #vote like your life depends on it because it does #put kids first.

[acronymking4tdp]

The Year After a Denied Abortion

(and the human cost of the Trump Court.)

Stumbled across this story, reported by ProPublica.

Mayron (the woman/mother profiled) said she let journalists document her life in intimate detail because she wanted people to “see for themselves and feel it in their own lives” her family’s struggles in raising two babies after a traumatic pregnancy and while recovering from a history of addiction.

“They forced me, basically, to have a child,” she said of the state after the abortion ban. But then, “they didn’t help me take care of that child.” This story doesn't even touch on the generational effects of trauma. Pro-Birth is not Pro-Life. We cannot go back in time and prevent the damage of the first Trump presidency and his picks for the Supreme Court, but we can vote for rational, humane candidates who will pass laws that mitigate the effects of those four years. Vote.

#vote #US Politics #SCOTUS #elections have consequences

[deadpresidents]

What do you think of people voting uncommitted or writing in “ceasefire” in the Democratic Primaries for president this year?

I think that everyone should vote and vote for who they think is the best choice and that a protest vote is a wasted vote, but if they feel the need to lodge a protest vote then the primaries is the time to do it.

But I'd also remind them that there are real, dangerous, life-and-death, democracy-or-dictatorship, choice-or-no choice stakes in the general election and that they are never -- and I mean NEVER -- going to get the perfect candidate who believes every single thing that they believe. So they can lodge a protest vote in the general election, but ELECTIONS HAVE FUCKING CONSEQUENCES and nobody who is an adult in 2024 should have to be told that because we can see freedoms that we've had and been confident that we'd always have crumbling and disappearing. A protest vote might make you feel that you've made a point about one aspect of our lives, but that protest vote also counts against abortion rights, health care, LGBTQ+ issues, and everything else that matters. Your protest isn't just going to register against what's going on in Gaza. It's going to help the GOP build a fortress around reproductive rights and same-sex marriage and health care for everyone who needs some help in order to fucking live. So, I'd say that you should always vote your conscience, but do so consciously, not emotionally.

Because, again, ELECTIONS HAVE FUCKING CONSEQUENCES and everybody should understand that by now.

#Elections #2024 Elections #Voting #Politics #ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES

[darnellclayton]

Great round up by the @humanistreport regarding Moore vs Harper. To sum it up:

Supreme Court Justices are divided about Independent State Legislature (3 against & 3 in favor), but the remaining three judges seem skeptical about this bogus theory

Ruling comes out next year in May or June

Democracy is threatened, but the majority of judges seem to be against this bogus theory

Hopefully they reject this theory as it’s mostly bogus if you ask me.

#politics #north carolina #supreme court #us supreme court #law #elections have consequences #election law #moore v harper #progressives #conservatives #elections #scotus #Youtube

[thecleverqueer]

Stupid, shortsighted people are going to be more concerned about gas prices that are completely outside of any politicians’ control until fascists are rounding folks up and putting them into camps… then it’s too f*^%ing late, and nothing will matter but survival.

#election #fascism #fascists #stupid people #elections have consequences #democracy dies in darkness #and this is how liberty dies

[hotmess-exe]

"MY life has gotten marginally better or been unaffected under the current administration, so give the Democrats YOUR vote"

that's what y'all sound like. fuckin entitled. or do none of y'all actually believe in one person, one vote lol

just say that other people's problems, well-being, stability, and dignity is secondary to your fucking comfort under the status quo.

if things are "better under Biden" for you to such an extent that you feel entitled to other people's fucking votes, I got news for ya — you were probably fine under Trump too 🙃

#all i hear is #give me your vote #GIVE me your vote — and im not talking about from politicians #your ass is so excited to vote for a warmonger and a genocidal liar #which every us president has been to some degree bc that's the real face of america #ok then you and YOUR vote can vote for biden #bitching about leftists abstaining to vote blue this election is just y'all crying over the consequences #of demanding support from the demographics you clearly DO NOT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT #while loudly proclaiming and proving that you do not give a fuck about them lmao #mess #clown brigade #fuck biden #make a real argument please lmao #i have read and heard them all and they always boil down to this fucking bullshit #y'all pretend there's no nuance to ppl not voting this cycle but pretend theres nuance to #vote blue no matter who #lmao ok #i aint even old yet and im too old for this shit