2024: The Year Trump Likely Goes To Jail.

In a few words: New York, Washington, D.C., Georgia, Colorado and ironically, Florida. What is it? 91 felony counts. Nine cases and four trials.

This has been fifty years in the making. You know what they say about them chickens. And it's not only him that could go to jail. I wouldn't want to be part of that family. I'll just leave it at that.

Sure, he'll more than likely be the Republican nominee at that point. And then sentencing could come, right smack in the middle of the primaries. 

If Trump gets acquitted across the board, then he's probably the next president. Biden fucked himself by continuing QE since 2008. That was massively inflationary and as a result, Biden cut his own political throat. End of story.

But if Trump ends up in jail, then who becomes the Republican nominee? More than likely his running mate. It won't be DeSantis and not Christie. Haley? Probably not. You know, the lack of loyalty à la Trump. In Trump's world, LOYALTY is always and only a one-way street. 

So...he better be prepared to shit his adult diapers. Those chickens are coming home to roost. Despite his phony bravado, he must already be scared shitless. That, at least, has the Gods smiling broadly.

  

Gaza: The Canadian Blowback.

I want to say that the death of civilians, whether that happens in Gaza, Israel or anywhere else, should always be condemned. The IDF says its operations are done in accordance with international law. I hope so but tell that to the families of the three hostages killed by the IDF.

Meanwhile, Gaza is now way beyond a humanitarian crisis. I don't know what the answer is, but what I want to see is aid coming in for civilians to the greatest extent possible. People are quite literally starving, and most of them are neither Hamas terrorists nor other combatants. 

What I'm not OK with is demonstrations on behalf of Palestine that are not peaceful in nature. This level of intimidation and threats is not acceptable, period. Police are often there but act like bumps on a log. Not acceptable either. 

To my mind, it has come to this: we need to enforce not only the Criminal Code provincially, but also the Immigration Act federally for those who use threats and intimidation as political tactics. Those who do that and happen not to be citizens need to be investigated and ultimately deported to their home countries. Enough is enough. This is Canada, not some undemocratic totalitarian state, and it's time that we stand up for our democratic values and the rule of law. No one else can do it for us. 

XIV Amendment: You Judge For Yourself.

The text of Section 3 is as follows:

Section 3.

"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability." [Emphasis added.]

The Colorado Supreme Court has disqualified Trump from the 2024 ballot. It was a 4-3 split decision. I have to say that, IMHO, the court erred in law. On my best day, I absolutely loathe Trump, but this ruling is based on the law. Notice how Second 3 speaks of President and Vice President, but does not specifically enumerate those offices as being covered by Section 3. That's point one. 

Follow up this statement with reading out of those two offices: notice how the section specifically enumerates an executive of any state. Given that the President is the Chief Executive of the United States, one would have thought that lawmakers would have specifically enumerated the Chief Executive and the Vice President, the second-highest Executive Officer. But quite clearly, they did not.

As a result, it's my contention that the SCOTUS will likely reverse this judgment. Treason is pretty much at the top of the pecking order, as is insurrection, so both are more than likely covered by High Crimes and Misdemeanours. However, as such, one would think that each political office would be specifically enumerated. The Colorado justices believe that they are not limited to those mentioned in Section 3.  I have my doubts about that.

How do you see it? 

Ukraine: It All Depends On Republicans Not Becoming Traitors To Democracy And Freedom.

One would have thought that the United States permanently learned its lesson during the Second World War that isolationism at home inevitably leads to war. Put in context, Germany under Nazi control overran most of Europe, leaving only the United Kingdom and her allies to carry on the fight. In short, without American involvement -- or at least military and other support -- that war would have been lost.  The point became moot once Pearl Harbour was attacked. That was totalitarianism pushing the United States into the war and, despite horrible casualties but for that act, would America ultimately have joined the forces of good to suppress and stamp out the forces of evil and tyranny? I can only hope so.

Things became so dire in 1940 that Roosevelt was forced to bring in The Lend-Lease Act. This is what the American President said: “We must be the great arsenal of democracy,” Roosevelt declared in one of his signature “fireside chats” on December 29, 1940. “For us, this is an emergency as serious as war itself. We must apply ourselves to our task with the same resolution, the same sense of urgency, the same spirit of patriotism and sacrifice as we would show were we at war.” [Emphasis added.]

Last year, Congress adopted legislation aimed at helping Ukraine fight off Russia in her hour of need. The Ukraine Lend-Lease Act is set to expire this month, with battles raging in the Senate and House about reauthorization. 

I will put it to you that isolationist Republicans are willing acolytes in the struggle to defeat democracy and freedom, both at home and around the world. These are exceedingly dangerous times, with our enemies looking to take maximum advantage of American weakness, or at least her perceived weakness. 

Authoritarian governments have formed an informal de facto legion of demon seeds bent on undermining democracy and freedom worldwide and so far, they're winning that psychological war by a country mile. These people are the very governments who will sleepwalk all humankind right smack into the middle of WWIII. It's coming, as sure as I'm breathing. 

Meanwhile, naive Republicans who care not about American national security are back at playing with the border Dog and Pony show. You know, the B-O-R-D-E-R, the issue that no American president has solved, and no president will EVER be able to solve. Why, you ask? Quite simply, it would require theoretically walling off all of the border at a cost of tens if not hundreds of trillions to the American taxpayer. So, all this MAGA border bullshit is just that, bullshit, just like when phony-baloney Trump said he would "force" Mexico to pay for the wall. Yeah, right. Such an imbecile, but I digress.

But back to Ukraine: every American already knows that Ukraine is not only fighting for its people and its territory. It's also fighting to prevent NATO and the United States from being forced to join in militarily. In other words, Ukraine is doing our dirty-work against Russia. America and NATO get to see how well our systems perform without the loss of a single drop of our own blood. If Ukraine funding is not renewed by Congress, this conflict will inevitably escalate to a point where NATO will have no choice but to get in. Anyone who thinks that Putin will respect NATO borders in the wake of a victory in Ukraine is dreaming. The Baltics and Poland have already been threatened by Russia. With Putin, the only thing that you can take to the bank is when he says he's going to do something, then believe him. 

Putin is salivating, quite literally praying to his dark forces, for a Trump victory in 2024. He has plenty of personal leverage against Trump and knows how to effectively use it. Nothing can be more obvious. So, if or perhaps when Trump wins, watch for Trump to abandon NATO right on Putin's schedule. And then it's finally fireworks time, WWIII, the big one. Europe will be attacked and will quickly be on the brink of losing. That will force the idiot's hand back in DC after the Trump Administration will have previously defunded, weakened and disregarded NATO.

Trump says he can end the Ukraine War in one day. Right, by taking Russia's side and quite deliberately letting Putin win. That's the MAGA Plan, as traitorous as it is to the concepts of democracy and freedom. 

Just look at the countries who are slowing down if not blocking Ukraine's ascension to NATO and the EU. By and large, they're fucking totalitarian regimes. What a coincidence...

I will say it again until I'm literally blue in the face, but Reagan was right: peace through strength! Biden could end this war in a week, but he and the other NATO dullards won't push Putin to the wall. Ask yourself what Putin would do if Ukraine was fast-tracked to NATO membership? Russia would have no choice but to quickly sue for peace, or ultimately go up against all of NATO. Putin can't win in that context, but the fools in Brussels just can't see it.

But back to Senate and House Republicans: you have only two choices. You can fund Ukraine for as long as it takes to fight off the aggressor and invader, or you can pull funding. Do the latter, and you inevitably will move the needle fast-forward toward the next Great War.

Like I said, don't become traitors to democracy and freedom, because if you do, you will bring on a war that will devastate not only our enemies but also our allies, not to mention the United States itself. And by doing so, you will get to join Benedict Arnold in the history books.