DL Open Thread: Friday, February 2, 2024
Sad: Oregon Senators Refuse To Work, Find Themselves Ineligible To Run For Reelection:
The Oregon Supreme Court said Thursday that 10 Republican state senators who staged a record-long walkout last year to stall bills on abortion, transgender health care and gun rights cannot run for reelection.
The decision upholds the secretary of state’s decision to disqualify the senators from the ballot under a voter-approved measure aimed at stopping such boycotts. Measure 113, passed by voters in 2022, amended the state constitution to bar lawmakers from reelection if they have more than 10 unexcused absences.
Last year’s boycott lasted six weeks — the longest in state history — and paralyzed the legislative session, stalling hundreds of bills.
Biden Takes First–Very Hesitant–Step To Sanction Israeli Settlers. A cynic would suggest that perhaps Biden realizes he needs to lock down Michigan to win. I would be that cynic. Anyways:
US President Joe Biden has approved sanctions on four Israeli settlers accused of attacking Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The sanctions block the individuals from accessing all US property, assets and the American financial system.
Some 370 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since then, according to the UN. The majority of those have been killed by Israeli forces but at least eight of them have been killed by Israeli settlers, the UN said.
The new executive order means the US government has the power to sanction any foreign nationals who attack, intimidate or seize the property of Palestinians.
The sanctions are a first by the US administration – a rare step targeting Israelis – and comes as Mr Biden travels to the state of Michigan, which has a large Arab-American population that has been critical of his support for Israel.
The Arab American Institute, an advocacy group, earlier said that since the start of the conflict, support by Arab Americans for the Democratic Party has plummeted from 59% in 2020 to just 17%.
Basically it creates a legal and financial framework around the settlements which are pretty far reaching. It certainly doesn’t equate “violent extremist groups” in the West Bank with terrorists (though a lot of them certainly qualify). But it creates a framework of legal/financial toxicity around them that is at least a regulatory and due diligence headache for banks, foundations, corporations, even governments etc. and is potentially game changing in the sense of stuff you just can’t afford to be connected to.
Good question from the Wall Street Journal:
“A question, though, for the trolls: If they believe defeating Mr. Trump is so easy that Mr. Biden can do it merely by getting an endorsement from a singer who backed him in 2020, doesn’t that suggest the GOP might be making a mistake by nominating such a weak candidate?” it asked.
Greg Abbott says it out loud:
“The only thing that we are not doing is we’re not shooting people who come across the border—because, of course, the Biden administration would charge us with murder,” the Republican governor told former NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch on her radio show last week.
The US jobs market defied fears of a downturn again in January with employers adding 353,000 new jobs over the month, the labor department announced on Friday.
What do you want to talk about?
Setting aside the fact that the most stridently genocidal Israelis are from New York, I disagree with sanctions on Israeli settlers on humanitarian grounds.
Replacing Palestinians with Israeli settlers remains genocide, even if you’re New York Jewish…and doing it in slow motion changes nothing…since ’67…Far too long and we are crazy to accept Netanyahu rhetoric because it is without empathy for anyone.
This ex New Yorker could not agree more. What is going on in Gaza is genocide that seeks the expulsion of all Palestinians, by “voluntary immigration” or death. Netanyahu is a Fascists, just like Putin, Orban and Trump.