Monitoring Biden and other Contemporary Events

hightor wrote:

Do you also believe that Israel allowed the Hamas attacks to take place as a precursor to invading Gaza?

A great question.
Every time there's what seems like an aggressive warlike move, I now always know it is one of two things:

1. What it's presented to be

OR

2. Intended to look like what it's presented to be.

Do you know that?
________________________

Anyway, I did spend some time wondering if Hamas caught Israel with their pants down--and I spent some time thinking the odds were that no, Israel is all about defense; certainly their superior, world-renown intelligence agencies had to have known about Hamas' long-term plans--and Israel used the opportunity to get the casus belli to do what they've always wanted to do--exterminate the Palestinians for once and for all.

But, in the absence of proof, all anyone can do is make an educated guess based on at least some facts supporting that opinion.

So, I'm open to either possibility. I'll let you know if I come across any proof.

However, George coming down on the other side of this question doesn't bother me at all. It's an entirely understandable opinion.

If you know how the IDF are trained and what Netanyahu’s ministers have said on record, you know they are bloodthirsty, white supremacists on steroids who don’t view Palestinians as completely human.

Conservative group tells judge it has no evidence to back its claims of Georgia ballot stuffing

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A conservative group has told a Georgia judge that it doesn’t have evidence to support its claims of illegal ballot stuffing during the the 2020 general election and a runoff two months later.

Texas-based True the Vote filed complaints with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in 2021, including one in which it said it had obtained “a detailed account of coordinated efforts to collect and deposit ballots in drop boxes across metro Atlanta” during the November 2020 election and a January 2021 runoff.

A Fulton County Superior Court judge in Atlanta signed an order last year requiring True the Vote to provide evidence it had collected, including the names of people who were sources of information, to state elections officials who were frustrated by the group’s refusal to share evidence with investigators.

In their written response, attorneys for True the Vote said the group had no names or other documentary evidence to share.

“Once again, True the Vote has proven itself untrustworthy and unable to provide a shred of evidence for a single one of their fairy-tale allegations,” Raffensperger spokesman Mike Hassinger said Wednesday. “Like all the lies about Georgia’s 2020 election, their fabricated claims of ballot harvesting have been repeatedly debunked.”

True the Vote’s assertions were relied upon heavily for “2000 Mules,” a widely debunked film by conservative pundit and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza. A State Election Board investigation found that surveillance camera footage that the film claimed showed ballot stuffing actually showed people submitting ballots for themselves and family members who lived with them, which is allowed under Georgia law.

The election board subpoenaed True the Vote to provide evidence that would assist it in investigating the group’s ballot trafficking allegations.

True the Vote’s complaint said its investigators “spoke with several individuals regarding personal knowledge, methods, and organizations involved in ballot trafficking in Georgia.” It said one person, referred to in the complaint only as John Doe, “admitted to personally participating and provided specific information about the ballot trafficking process.”

Frustrated by the group’s refusal to share evidence, Georgia officials took it to court last year. A judge ordered True the Vote to turn over names and contact information for anyone who had provided information, as well as any recordings, transcripts, witness statements or other documents supporting its allegations.

The group came up empty-handed despite having “made every additional reasonable effort to locate responsive items,” its attorneys David Oles and Michael Wynne wrote in a Dec. 11 legal filing first reported Wednesday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

True the Vote’s founder and president, Catherine Engelbrecht, didn’t immediately respond to an Associated Press email seeking comment Wednesday. She and another member of the group were briefly jailed in 2022 for contempt for not complying with a court order to provide information in a defamation lawsuit. The suit accused True the Vote of falsely claiming that an election software provider stored the personal information of U.S. election workers on an unsecured server in China.

Prior to the State Election Board’s investigation, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation looked into True the Vote’s assertion that it was able to use surveillance video and geospatial mobile device information to support its allegations. In a September 2021 letter, Vic Reynolds, who was then the GBI’s director, said the evidence produced did not amount to proof of ballot harvesting.

State elections officials opened their own investigation after receiving True the Vote’s complaint two months later. When pressed to provide names of sources and other documentation, the group last year tried to withdraw its complaint. One of its attorneys wrote that a complete response would require True the Vote to identify people to whom it had promised confidentiality.

The State Election Board refused to shelve the complaint and went to court to force True the Vote to turn over information.

In addition to names, the judge ordered True the Vote to provide copies of any confidentiality agreements it had with sources.

The group’s attorneys replied: “TTV has no such documents in its possession, custody, or control.”

So, what was the point of allowing the attack to occur?

So, is the Georgia case going to be sidelined until next year because of misconduct by the prosecution? Considering the importance of this case, all the attention it was bound to attract, and the scrutiny of witnesses and the prosecution by Trump's lawyers, was Willis's conduct excusable or is it a major setback that could – and should – have been avoided?

Trump’s Takeover Of The RNC Could Mean Party Donors Will Pay His Legal Bills Again

The Republican National Committee picked up some fees, reasoning the cases were politically motivated. Two of those cases will likely total $450 million in judgments.

Three years after agreeing to pay Donald Trump’s legal bills on the rationale that cases against him were “politically motivated,” the Republican National Committee could face pressure from its coup-attempting presumed nominee to pay not just tens of millions of dollars more in legal fees but more than $450 million in likely judgments against him.

“That’s why he wants ‘his people’ on the inside. It’s not about building up MAGA but rather getting MAGA to pay his bills,” said former RNC chair Michael Steele, referring to the “Make America great again” motto that’s become shorthand for Trump’s followers.

her testimony today was very entertaining...

An Egyptian intelligence official told the Associated Press news agency this week that Cairo had repeatedly warned the Israelis "something big" was being planned from Gaza.
"We have warned them an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big. But they underestimated such warnings," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Cairo official said Israeli officials had played down the threat from Gaza, instead focusing on the West Bank.
Sir Alex Younger, who served as chief of the UK's foreign intelligence agency between 2014 and 2020, said Hamas fighters were able to carry out their attack on 7 October due to "institutional complacency" in Israel.

Israel's Hannibal Directive, a highly controversial military protocol, has been at the center of intense debate both within Israel and internationally. Developed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), this directive was designed to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers by enemy forces, even at the cost of potentially harming the captive soldiers themselves. This approach stems from the strategic calculation that a captured soldier poses significant psychological and tactical challenges, potentially giving adversaries leverage in negotiations. However, the implementation of the Hannibal Directive raises profound ethical and legal questions, challenging the norms of military engagement and international humanitarian law. Its deployment in various conflicts, particularly in densely populated areas, has led to significant civilian casualties and international criticism, underscoring the complex interplay between military necessity, ethical boundaries, and the human cost of warfare. This paper delves into the origins, applications, and implications of the Hannibal Directive, offering a comprehensive analysis of one of modern warfare's most contentious strategies. Keywords: Israel, Hannibal Directive, Israeli Defense Forces, military ethics, international humanitarian law, warfare, soldier capture, ethical considerations, strategic challenges, civilian casualties, conflict, legal implications, tactical analysis, psychological impact, military strategy, national security, IDF policy, rules of engagement.