Monthly Archives: November 2023

Colorado Judge rules Trump guilty of Insurrection

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Politico reports that a Colorado judge has ruled on the 14th Amendment challenge to Donald Trump’s right to run for President. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/17/colorado-judge-rules-trump-engaged-in-insurrection-but-can-still-run-for-president-00127909

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington challenged Donald Trump’s right to run for office, invoking the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states “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. “

“CREW said the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 disqualified Trump under a reading of the Civil War-era amendment.”

“The judge found that Trump did engage in an insurrection on January 6, 2021 “through incitement, and that the First Amendment does not protect Trump’s speech.” But she also found that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment doesn’t apply to Trump.”

The Judge indicated that since the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment does not mention the President specifically, that it was not wise to interpret the clause where the Founders had not spoken.

Almost certainly, the authors of the Constitution considered the President to be an officer of the United States. Article II, Section 1, says “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.

He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years”

Paragraph 6 states “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President;  neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”

Paragraph 7 states “In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.”

Paragrah 9 states “Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:–“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Article II, Section 4 states “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

Quotes from The Constitution of the United States are taken from this source: https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/full-text

It is a strange interpretation that the Founders vested all executive power in a President who is not an Officer of the United States, or make a President who is not an Officer of the United States take an “Oath of Office.” It is this Oath of Office which is the basis for the Insurrection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The wording of the clause appears to apply to all who take an Oath of Office to Defend the Constitution of the United States.

Of course, there is an extra-Constitutional reason for the Judge to rule. The Judge knows, as well as everyone who has lived in America since 2016, that enforcing the Constitution’s 14th Amendment would lead to massive violence by supporters of former President Trump. The events of January 6, 2021 show that America is under threat from a leader who sees violence as an acceptable approach to gaining or retaining public Office.

All America is under threat from Donald Trump and his supporters. Donald Trump has already said he would trash The Constitution of the United States if that would keep him in office. His supporters on January 6 made clear their contempt for The Constitution, and their willingness to use violence to keep Trump in power. Every Secretary of State fears that violence, and they are all avoiding their own duty to enforce The Constitution in regard to this particular disqualification of a candidate.

The fear is justified. The Secretaries who will not keep Trump off the ballot make it sound like a principled stand – “let the voters decided whether he should be in office.” A good principle indeed. In November 2020, the voters decided that Trump should not continue in office, and the result was the violent attack on the Capitol and the offices of Congress on January 6, 2021.

Does anyone think that Donald Trump will accept defeat in November 2024, and congratulate the winner? America will live under the shadow of violence as long as Donald Trump is politically active. The threat is made all the worse by the cowardice of the Republican National Committee in refusing to take the lead in disqualifying Donald Trump for the 2024 election.

If the question makes it to The Supreme Court of the United States, I would remind the Justices that each of them took an Oath to Defend the Constitution. I would also note that the Supreme Court building probably has better security than the offices of the Secretary of State in any of the 50 states.

Calling Names:Trump denigrates his enemies

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So now Donald Trump is calling people who oppose Trumpian Statism  “vermin” – and the
L.A. Times compares this to the rhetoric of the Nazis. 
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-11-13/trump-vermin-speech

True enough, but we don’t have to go that far geographically, or that far back in time.
In the 1960s and after, Fidel Castro would call people who opposed Cuban Communism “Gusanos”
which means “worm” in Spanish.

Seems like The Don uses “vermin” in the same metaphorical way Castro used “Gusanos.”

Given Trump’s reverence for Vladimir Putin, and his professed “love” for Kim Jong-un, it
seems he is more like Castro than like Hitler.

Of course, Castro’s favorite book in college was “Mi Lucha” – “My Struggle” – or “Mein Kampf“‘ in
the original German. I guess if you are talking about a totalitarian megalomaniac – whether it is
Fidel Castro or Donald Trump – you are never that far from the comparison to Hitler.

Ukraine: War’s Toll on Schools, Children’s Future

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Human Rights Watch reports on the youngest victims of the Russian aggression in Ukraine:

  • Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has devastated schools and kindergartens throughout the country. Since February 2022, over 3,790 educational facilities have been damaged or destroyed.
  • Ukrainian children have paid a high price in this war because attacks on education are attacks on their future.
  • International donors and aid agencies should support the Ukrainian government to ensure the equitable reconstruction of schools in all regions of Ukraine.

(Kyiv, November 9, 2023) – Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has devastated schools and kindergartens throughout the country, Human Rights Watch said in a report and video released today. Since February 2022, over 3,790 educational facilities have been damaged or destroyed, according to Ukrainian government figures, severely interrupting access to education for millions of children.

The 71-page report, “Tanks on the Playground,” documents the damage and destruction of schools and kindergartens in four Ukrainian regions during the first months of the fighting. Most of the damage to educational facilities resulted from aerial attacks, artillery shelling, rocket strikes, and, in some cases, attacks using cluster munitions – causing significant damage to roofs, the collapse of walls, and major debris in classrooms. Russian forces frequently looted and pillaged schools they occupied, a war crime.

“Ukrainian children have paid a high price in this war because attacks on education are attacks on their future,” said Hugh Williamson, director of the Europe and Central Asia division at Human Rights Watch. “The international community should condemn the damage and destruction of schools in Ukraine and looting by Russian forces.”

Human Rights Watch visited 50 education facilities in the Kyivska, Kharkivska, Chernihivska, and Mykolaivska regions and interviewed almost 90 school officials, representatives of local authorities, and witnesses to military operations.

Education in Ukraine has been under attack since Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014. Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 led to further attacks on and military use of schools, which, along with the overall effects of war, have severely disrupted Ukrainian children’s education, already suffering from school closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many students from schools that were damaged or destroyed had to continue their studies in other schools, studying in shifts or remotely, which has eroded the quality of education, Human Rights Watch said. Russian forces’ attacks on power infrastructure and consequent electricity and internet outages have frequently impeded remote learning.

Full Post @ Human Rights Watch https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/09/ukraine-wars-toll-schools-childrens-future

“Suspend Arms to Israel, Palestinian Armed Groups” – Human Rights Watch

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(Jerusalem) – Allies of Israel and backers of Palestinian armed groups should suspend the transfer of arms to the warring parties in Israel and Gaza given the real risk that they will be used to commit grave abuses, Human Rights Watch said today. Providing weapons that knowingly and significantly would contribute to unlawful attacks can make those providing them complicit in war crimes.

Israel and Palestinian armed groups have committed serious abuses amounting to war crimes during the current hostilities. Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups deliberately killed hundreds of civilians in Israel on October 7, 2023, and took more than 200 hostage. Israel then cut electricity, fuel, food and water to Gaza’s population and severely curtailed life-saving humanitarian aid, all of which are acts of collective punishment.

“Civilians are being punished and killed at a scale unprecedented in recent history in Israel and Palestine,” said Bruno Stagno, chief advocacy officer at Human Rights Watch. “The United States, Iran and other governments risk being complicit in grave abuses if they continue to provide military assistance to known violators.”

Israel’s key allies—the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany—should suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel so long as its forces commit widespread, serious abuses amounting to war crimes against Palestinian civilians with impunity. Iran and other governments should cease providing arms to Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, so long as they systematically commit attacks amounting to war crimes against Israeli civilians.

Since October 7, about 1,400 Israelis and others, and more than 9,700 Palestinians, many of them civilians, have been killed, according to local authorities.

During the current hostilities, Israeli forces have imposed collective punishment on civilians in Gaza by denying them water, electricity, and food, and have willfully impeded humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.

They have also repeatedly used explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated areas, reducing entire blocks and large parts of neighborhoods to rubble and raising grave concerns of indiscriminate attacks, and indiscriminately used white phosphorus, an incendiary material that burns human flesh and can cause lifelong suffering, in populated areas in Gaza and in Lebanon. Amnesty International has also verified photos showing M825-series white phosphorous 155mm artillery projectiles being used by Israeli forces near the Lebanese border and Gaza fences.

Israel’s military has also ordered over a million people in northern Gaza to evacuate to the south of Gaza because of military operations in the north, though they had no safe place to go or safe way to go anywhere in Gaza. Broad-based warnings, rather than specific warnings of imminent attacks, suggest that everywhere in northern Gaza is subject to military attack. This order risks mass forced displacement, a war crime. Israel has also sealed its border crossings to anyone who would seek to flee.

Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have deliberately killed civilians, taken civilians hostage and continue to hold them, and launched thousands of rockets at Israeli communities, all of which are war crimes.

The leaders of Israel and Palestinian armed groups have made statements indicating that serious abuses by their forces will continue. Israeli officials have sought to hold Gaza’s entire population responsible for the October 7 attack; one minister said that “there is no reason” to provide humanitarian aid to the population until Israeli forces “eliminate” Hamas. A spokesman for the Hamas military wing threatened to broadcast “with sound and video” the “execution of one of our enemy’s civilian hostages.”

Future military transfers to Israel in the face of ongoing serious violations of the laws of war risk making the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany complicit in these abuses if they knowingly and significantly contribute to them, Human Rights Watch said. Providing weapons to Palestinian armed groups, given their continuing unlawful attacks, risks making Iran complicit in those violations.

Full Post @ Human Rights Watch https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/06/suspend-arms-israel-palestinian-armed-groups