Roundup
(1) There’s been large earthquake in Japan, and a tsunami warning. It’s hard to get a sense of whether there’s much loss of life, but it doesn’t seem as though there is. Plenty of property damage, though.
(2) Let’s hear it for the fight against DEI:
… 2023 saw more than a dozen states start to take action against the DEI hydra, with six achieving concrete steps that other states should follow. …
There is a limit to what states can accomplish. Democratic governors and legislators will not manage what is possible in states fully controlled by Republicans, such as Florida and Texas.
But as private companies also turn away from DEI bureaucracies, there is clear bipartisan momentum toward a solid response to DEI excesses. Ending mandated diversity statements for higher education hires is an easy first step all states should take.
Dan Crenshaw has proposed a bill to cut federal funding of schools with mandatory DEI statements.
(3) The Israeli High Court has done the following:
In a monumental, highly controversial decision, the High Court of Justice strikes down legislation passed earlier this year that curtailed judicial oversight of the government, annulling for the first time in Israel’s history an element of one of its quasi-constitutional Basic Laws.
The court split almost down the middle over the highly contentious legislation, which eliminated judicial use of the “reasonableness” standard — the only significant law from the government’s judicial overhaul agenda to have been passed so far. Eight justices vote in favor of striking down the law, while seven vote to uphold it.
The ruling establishes in legal precedent the High Court’s contention that it has, in limited circumstances, the right to annul Basic Laws, despite these being the basis of authority for all state institutions, including the court.
It’s a mistake to think of the Israeli High Court as the equivalent of our Supreme Court. The Israeli Court is far more powerful; I’ve written about the Israeli situation in this post and I strongly suggest you read it. The summary version is that the Israeli court is an unelected self-perpetuating body that appoints most of the new justices itself, and the “reasonableness” standard allows the court enormous powers unchecked by other branches of government.
(4) Can ayone explain this? I certainly can’t:
… [Trump] came out in support of building the FBI a “new and spectacular” building. He also said that the bureau should not be decentralized but should be given an increased role in Washington, D.C.
(5) Here are the predictions of Legal Insurrection’s authors for the year 2024. I’m in there too, although this past year I’ve been less active at the site due to extreme busyness.
5. I predict that 2024 will be quite interesting.
#4…? I got nothing.
Same sh!t different day
The Israeli High Court has no remit to actually strike down legislation. It’s time for the Knesset to dissolve the court and to pass bills of attainder against its members.
Well, either Trump has taken leave of his senses or the Deep State has managed a credible threat against his family. Some people like to think it’s more of his 4D Chess, but I’m not one of them. Earthquake in Japan? Good heavens, when did that ever happen before? At least Godzilla hasn’t been sighted in Tokyo harbor. Yet. Judges in Israel decide to govern by judicial fiat? Hmmmm. That sounds familiar. So far, 2024 is indistinguishable from 2023.
As an attorney, the Israeli high court decision is incomprehensible and should be unthinkable. That a court should give itself the authority to strike down legislation and government actions that it considers “unreasonable” is shocking, as is the fact that roughly half the population thinks that such a state of affairs is okay.
TimK:
Not just “okay,” but required, and any attempt to do away with that power something to be fought vigorously.
(4) Trump is a loose cannon. This is kind of like Trump calling left wing journalists and expecting them to report on him fairly, or calling reporters while pretending to be his own imaginary publicist, or elevating Fauci and Birx during COVID, or deciding to attack DeSantis as a “lockdown” governor. Trump is best understood as being motivated to maximize his own glory. If you called it the “Donald J. Trump FBI Building” and made it “big and beautiful,” I guarantee that he would be 110% on board. Most of the rightward lean of his first term was born either of political expedience or the contribution of all of the “RINOs” who populated his administration. Without the need to pander for reelection and without the conservatives who staffed his first administration, Trump would be an unguided missle during a potential second term.
(3) This is absolutely flabbergasting – as is the backlash by the so-called forces of “democracy.” Israel really needs to get a written Bill of Rights and a judiciary that has some dependance on the people.
#4, no guarantees of authenticity, but I saw somewhere on X that one of the DC sites under consideration is controlled by Jared Kushner and Trump Properties. Or, he’s just the swamp creature he often appears to be.
Not all of Netanyahu’s proposed judicial reforms seemed like a good idea to me, and some of them have been removed from the list. But there were a number of suggestions that are badly needed, and this is one of them.
The Israeli high court badly needs to be reigned in.
Japan: Fortunately, few countries are better prepared for big earthquakes. I hope the loss of life will be small.
Israel: The design and function of that court are unreasonable in a democratic country, and it is eminently unsuited to rule on “reasonableness” of laws. Perhaps Ben David or another Israeli will come tell us what could be done about this.
DEI: It looks like the country is taking steps towards discrediting and defunding this toxic ideology. It will linger in leftist states and cities, though. There are conservative legal foundations who are suing big corporations for racial discrimination associated with DEI, and that may go a long way towards reducing its effects on the country.
Trump: He’s always wandered ideologically. He’s committed to “making America great” but sometimes favors big-government solutions which are not at all conservative. After what the FBI has done to him and to his supporters, this statement is incomprehensible.
I wonder if Israel’s high court is influenced, in its powers and configuration, by the tradion of the biblical Judges (e.g., Deborah), in the time before Saul was annointed as king and Israel became “a nation like any other.”
#4 is just plain weird. I suppose Trump could be trying to butter up the FBI. That might work for NK, but I doubt the FBI is amenable.
The hard core of Israel’s Left continues its divisive politics despite the war. They should not be discounted. This weekend one center-right newspaper had an article describing a meeting of the faithful led by former general Dan Halutz – who is around the bend with Bibi Derangement Syndrome and is one of the EU-funded people ginning up revolutionary fervor…. this comes after the Lefties co-opted the families of the hostages.
The decision by the Court, and its timing, are further examples that they are panicked and disoriented. Similarly, a mainstream newspaper exposed a false report by the Army attempting to demonize West Bank settlers – at a time when army units are uncovering piers and tunnels there, as well… they are divorced from reality, tone deaf to the mood of the country – but probably more dangerous because of that.
Throughout their year-long attempted putsch the Left tried repeatedly to provoke violence so they could bring in the police…. this is another reason why Minister Ben-Gvir has pushed for gun rights. In this connection it should be noted that the Religious Zionists leading the reform movement are over-represented in the fighting units, and unfortunately also among the fallen…. this puts the lie to Leftist claims that “we founded this country”. After being vindicated on Oslo, after fighting for months – I don’t think these people (my people) are going to be as patient or placating as they were earlier this year towards Leftist civil disobedience.
The Religious Zionists now fighting in Gaza and promoting reform in the Knesset are the children who were turned out of the settlements in Gaza (aka Gush Katif)…. some of them felt the brunt of police brutality and were thrown in prison – even as minors – for opposing the expulsion. It has taken decades, but I think my camp has developed a political spine and will no longer do anything to preserve internal peace. The Leftists dropped their masks and are seen as neither Zionist nor democratic…..
The silent majority of Israelis has been trying to vote its way out of Oslo for a long time, and many now understand in retrospect how the Court was used to hamstring the IDF and “turn” Prime Ministers like Ariel Sharon.
This has always been the stern but salutary silver lining to our troubles: when progressive fantasies stray too far from reality, things start blowing up and Israelis come to their senses. It’s bitter medicine.
I suspect Trump’s reason for the tweet/truth was to say that the FBI shouldn’t be moved out of DC into the suburbs but ought to remain downtown where Congress and the White House could keep an eye on it. It’s true that physical space doesn’t matter as much as it once did, but in a new command center that’s even more of a palace and a fortress, the FBI could become even more arrogant and abusive.
Then I think Trump’s instincts as a builder and a promoter took over and pushed him off track. Everything is going to be big and beautiful, whether it deserves to be big or to be built at all. The media, of course, picked up on the second half of the message and ran with it.
In 2016, Trump was an outsider. Few thought he could win and many were afraid he would, but he did narrowly win. In 2020, Trump had proven himself to be an effective administrator and a successful president, but he narrowly lost. This year we’re back at 2016. Trump is seen as a wild man and a loose cannon, and there’s wild speculation about what he’d do if he wins. I wish he’d get control of himself. He doesn’t have the margin of victory that he thinks he has.
____________
Predictions?
Sure the election results are going to be contested, perhaps violently so.
And the new re-engineered M-Pox 24 is going to be a big deal.
Mask up, people.
#4, just another reason not to vote for Trump in the primary. DeSantis would never say such.
Building a new FBI headquarters in the seediest, most crime ridden section of DC is a good idea. The rotten eggs of the FBI are mostly in DC so make them report to work in the least desirable place. Every day.
Thanks, Ben David. The law, prophets, and writings have frequently displayed people with wrong ideas hurting the whole people. Put your trust in God and persevere. I hope the numbers of people who believe the progressive fantasies grow smaller and smaller.
We could use fewer people who believe progressive fantasies here.
#4
Curious. The FBI was the first attacker of Trump’s presidency and the most effective at causing him grief throughout his term. Bonchie says that Trump won’t earn the trust of FBI with this, but maybe Trump figures that the FBI is unbeatable or untouchable (heh) and is just hoping to quell or reduce future attacks in his upcoming administration.
You don’t tug on Superman’s cape
You don’t spit into the wind
You don’t pull the mask off that old lone ranger
And you don’t mess around with “the FBI”
Wonder if some judges in Israel have been raised on Marbury v Madison???
Well, I seem to have a different opinion on #4, a product of what my wife calls my low cunning mind.
I believe that Trump and/or his team are making a list and are going to purge the political senior agents of the FBI. If I were him, I’d reach out to the Agents who quit or were pushed out to advise on how to “Make the FBI great again”. The new building is both a distraction and a gift. A distraction to those against Trump and a gift to the Agents who want to be FBI and do the job.
4)The bureau has become like the okrana the czarist secret police with their own agenda they and the company puzzle palace seem to metastazise into belt way bandits tech companies what have
5) this supreme court is more the fortified ones in colorado
Here’s an interesting one:
Kim Jong Un expresses solidarity with Japan earthquake; threatens to unleash Nuclear Kimchi upon SK and USA if they don’t cease immediately their aggressive stances…
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/flashes/623043
Oh well, I guess it’s not terribly realistic to expect things to change on a dime…
A new building needs a new Eff Bee Eye, fire every one and start over and no former employee can reapply
Happy New Year everyone
The silent majority of Israelis has been trying to vote its way out of Oslo for a long time, and many now understand in retrospect how the Court was used to hamstring the IDF and “turn” Prime Ministers like Ariel Sharon.
This has always been the stern but salutary silver lining to our troubles: when progressive fantasies stray too far from reality, things start blowing up and Israelis come to their senses. It’s bitter medicine.
Ben David:
That’s as I suspected.
You write well. I thank you.
TommyJay:
I’m enjoying Season 2 of “Reacher” on Amazon Prime.
_________________________
You do not mess with the special investigators.
–Lee Child, “Bad Luck and Trouble”
@ johnj1947 > “Building a new FBI headquarters in the seediest, most crime ridden section of DC is a good idea. ”
Not the Bee showed the full Tweet, which looks like that is Trump’s thinking.
“The FBI should not be fleeing for safer, yet much less convenient, environs. It should make where they are now the safest place on earth! Don’t move the FBI!”
He means “build a new building in the current location.”
NTB:
Here’s hoping JFM is correct that Day Two will be a purge of the FBI and many other places.
It’s being done in Argentina; but I wonder how long that will last?
https://notthebee.com/article/argentinas-new-libertarian-president-javier-milei-immediately-cuts-number-of-cabinet-members-in-half-after-taking-office
The “take” from the MSM is that this will be disastrous, the peasants are revolting already, yada yada yada.
Oops – johnj1957.
Apologies for misaging you.
About those predictions …
https://notthebee.com/article/this-med-student-compiled-graphs-showing-how-different-professions-have-shifted-far-left-over-the-past-decades-the-one-about-doctors-really-surprised-me-
The headline changed that last part to “(the one about accountants threw me for a loop)” because no one is surprised at what the doctors do anymore (transgender mutilations of toddlers, Canada’s suicide hot-line that tells you which hospital will help you, abortion to birth and afterwards, etc).
The list of lost professions is staggering, and long, but we’ve watched it happening over the last few years, “slowly and then suddenly,” and discussed the trend. But the graphs are sobering evidence.
I suspect it is a generational thing, as the older conservatives retire or die, or get cancelled, and are replaced with new graduates of the REALLY Woke universities.
Sarah Hoyt takes a shot at the prediction racket.
It’s very long and detailed, and contains very little she hasn’t already said at other times, but it’s entertaining and has a nifty metaphor involving a bridge in Portugal.
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2024/01/01/cross-my-palm-with-silver-2/
The action and timing of the Israeli High Court is disappointing but not surprising. They act to preserve and broaden their power. The justices may believe or convince themselves that it’s necessary, in order to preserve our democracy. Sound familiar?
They ruled another far-reaching ruling a day or so after the Rabin assassination. Hide the power grab when the country is otherwise occupied.
It’s hard to know how to challenge their hegemony when the media, academia, etc. support them, and so many people show up repeatedly to demonstrate in favor of “democracy,” i.e., preservation of the court’s power to limit the government (since they believe the government – a branch that is actually accountable to the will of the electorate – will otherwise trample our rights).
I think some of it is a language game. Leftists support an independent judiciary. People in favor of reform say there needs to be accountability in the judiciary. “Independent” and “unaccountable” are essentially the same thing, but one sounds virtuous and desirable, and the other power-hungry and detached.
Similarly, a “politician” sounds vaguely negative, whereas “subject to the will of the people” sounds positive.
“Bureaucrat” sounds bad. “Expert” sounds good.
I have tried to speak with friends and relatives who oppose the judicial reforms, but with very limited success. Mostly we have to agree to disagree.
}}} Can anyone explain this? I certainly can’t
“What? He needs a doctor? Yeah… go get the doctor. I’ll watch over him. Yeah. Yeah… I’ll take good care of him…”
😀
Trump has learned to be a bit more circumspect, perhaps.
Or he’s following in Joe’s footsteps. After all, the guy IS 77 right now.
😛
AesopFan, I hope that Trump is smart enough not to start the cleanup on the second day as president. Let the Bureaucrats calm down for a bit, then move. Six to eight months feels good to me.
C’mon folks, read the whole tweet. Trump is the master troll of all trolls.
Why does the house reward the bureau with a new headquarters like the okrana they missed epsfein weinstein nasser a half dozen terror attacks in their laser focus on trump how about las vegas parkland
The misdirection and rationalizations from those supporting Trump over #4 are a sight to behold. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
https://twitter.com/Old_fashioned59/status/1741991469366267929
Who funds the bureau have they shown anything less than criminal malfeasance with their enablers in the tech companies and the media
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/12/2024_do_we_hit_the_iceberg_or_finally_change_course.html
Seizing Russia’s FX reserve balances in February 2022 marked the beginning of the end of Bretton Woods II. The internationally illegal precedent of Victoria Nuland and Samantha Power’s confiscation of said FX reserves to Ukraine will be the end of the end of Bretton Woods II.
Biden now admits the United States is at risk of “direct conflict” with Russia
Xi says he will take Taiwan…
and
America, it’s time to pay the demographic piper – The Hill
If only hilter thought of self-extermination (democide) voluntarily through (feminist) ideology!
His ideas would never have been challenged – it took his victims to really sock it to themselves with their writing and their voting post era.
75 million to abortion…
How many to – we just can’t date or mate anymore?
Without a cure for selfishness, and hypergamy, the ideology leads to self-extermination
The soviets found that out first…
then funded us to the point were women dont exist and men are now women to just have a place!!! women dominate the education centers which now want to exterminate jews, and follow the hammas that hitler dealt with… sympathy to that is in short supply…
and the protectors are going to be gone soon anyway… ie. that ideology meant that there was no one left to care to teach the young that following the magyar struggle was a bad thing. with so much on them given race, mating, etc… they wont sign up to protect others!
ladies – hope your ready for the draft… not enough have signed up and you wanted to be equal with the “disposable sex”
Some countries would pay men to move and marry their women!!!!
look it up!!!
The country’s fertility rate in 2021 was 1.66 births per woman or less than half the peak rate of 3.7 births per woman in the late 1950s.
America’s fertility rate has been generally below the replacement level since 1971
Talk about ignoring an impending crisis (in favor of weather?)
or do you old guys want to take up arms against the 30 million young Chinese that will never have wives?
In 2024, the Historical Reversal of America’s age structure is expected to occur, i.e., when persons aged 65 and older outnumber children under the age of 15.
have to let the borders be open, or that number will really hit home and people will notice!!
Dont worry
After nearly 20 years of commenting here – no one gave a crap they were dying out!!!
[by give a crap I mean ideas and worries translate to actions]
again… without a posterity, your words are worthless wastes of your time – you could have been out enjoying life rather than discussing for nothing (or do you think that if the regime changes all this you wrote and commented on would remain available? )
“Rather than paying the demographic piper, many in America are trying to avoid the issue.”
I bet there is a Greek tragedy that covers this
(besides modern Greece!)
Awaiting the “catharsis”!!!
Regardless of who is next in line… the game is over..
when those 65 and over go – in less than 5 years or so for most
There will only be a broken male population that does not care enough to be healthy or fight for a country that took away all their places in society and told them if a certain color, screw you!!
and a really surprised female population that will be drafted and bodies thrown to hasten the change that their absences will bring and their presence fought for a long time to have, communist government. as all their quotes pointed out…
there is nothing anyone can do to stop or even change it! unless you have a Tardis and can go back and have kids when i first started, you won’t have the adults you need now! bwaaaa bwaaa bwaaaa… the game over music playes!!!!
Better plot line than Marvel! or DC… 🙂
Headlines:
Demographic Collapse? – Resource Center
What happens if the US birth rate continues to fall?
Population rate decline in the US triggers economic alarms …
How Low Can America’s Birth Rate Go Before It’s A Problem?
The Mystery of the Declining U.S. Birth Rate
America is looking down the barrel of population collapse.
America’s fertility rates are falling. That’s cause for …
Global fertility has collapsed, with profound economic …
The Consequences of Declining Fertility for Social Capital
Pro-natalist policies are great, but declining birth rates are …
5 Reasons America’s Birthrate Is Plummeting [none mention a body count for women of over 200 before 20, or feminism/hypergamy]
Is America’s imploding birth rate another sign of a …
Elon Musk Warns Of Population Crisis In U.S., Says ‘Big …
As U.S. fertility rates collapse, finger-pointing and blame …
The historically low birthrate, explained in 3 charts
The decline in the US birth rate is not about moral failure .
..
US birth rate falls 4% to its lowest point ever
Why U.S. Population Growth Is in the Danger Zone
Is U.S. Birth Rate Falling? Elon Musk Warns of Population ‘ …
Migration could prevent a looming population crisis. But …
America, it’s time to pay the demographic piper
Charted: The Rapid Decline of Global Birth Rates
The new communist Scientific American (which went way left decades ago) says:
Population Decline Will Change the World for the Better
I guess the authors don’t realize that with lower population, certain things become impossible.
Without scale you have no economy of scale…
so you don’t get things, like medicines that require it…
Women basically self exterminated their family lines
A 3.8 billion year lineage from the first living cell, destroyed by a bad idea thought good…
What good is liberation when it causes self extirpation?
Dont worry, the answer doesn’t matter… now
The question we failed to ask?
[among many]
Nothing to do but laugh!!!
and if your angry at me for laughing, I ask, why?
It certainly didn’t matter 20 years ago when it actually mattered.
When we crossed the invisible event horizon!!
even with infinite cash, this can’t be stopped or changed.
you needed people who understood! or were willing to understand…
NMPAM
Ignore, argue, don’t bother, doesn’t matter…
“In Watermelon Sugar the deeds were done and done again as my life is done in watermelon sugar.”
? Richard Brautigan, In Watermelon Sugar
Sooner or later we all end up dining at a table laden with the consequences of our actions and inactions – Artfldgr
🙂
DEI Officials = Stalinist Speech and Thought Commissars.
https://donsurber.substack.com/p/its-what-they-dont-say-that-matters?r=1qo1e&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
huxley,
Yes, I’ve been definitely been watching Reacher. Fun. But, I forgot about their tag line when writing the above. Ha.
I have thought that the Israeli (and US) intel agencies knew about the Oct 7 attack and let it happen to hurt Bibi. I don’t think they expected it to be this deadly and it was a miscalculation on their part. Caroline Glick has a recent video where she says the left in Israel is falling apart among the people there, as a result of Oct 7.
Don:
If you think they let a terrorist attack of any magnitude happen purposely, you don’t understand Israel. Israeli politics can be bitter and vicious, but it would not take that particular form.
Trump is a loose cannon. Some others tweet that he or his building supporters were chosen as contractors—that might be a reason for his statement. FBI hq rebuilding will cost 1,000 million USD, so there’s tons of pork there. That accusation might also be false, but hard to falsify since most successful contractors try to have good relations, thus support, both parties. So a “friend of Trump” might well also be a “friend of Pelosi”.
Trump’s mouth is the loose cannon, with much of his hot air as nerf cannonballs. Yet his connection with Fred Flintstone (or Ralph Cramden) like workers is stronger because of that. He genuinely speaks more from his heart, whatever he feels. And he’s by far the best at expressing lots of pro America feelings that so many normal, mildly anti-politics workers feel.
Feelings are loose cannons.
Democrats, like the Left in Israel, don’t like a lot of the feelings normal folk have. And their Dem pro-abortion feelings are shifting the demographics such that more kids are born to pro-life parents.
Israel’s High Court is too undemocratic and too powerful in abolishing laws it doesn’t like. The Swiss SC explicitly does not have that power. The US SC isn’t supposed to, but sort of does, yet with more democratic feedback by being chosen and confirmed, or not. As Robert Bork was not.
Upper Israeli officers were told by lower ranks about the attack trainings, but using their high IQs were sure it was just…
Trump like hot air. Nothing really serious,
Dey was wrong.