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What's up?

Sometimes I sit down with several pieces planned or nearly ready and say but … but that’s not what people are talking about right now. So what are the issues?

I’ve already had a lot to say about the war in the Middle East – I dislike all the rulers over there – Hamas beheaded innocent civilians to stop Israel, the US and other Middle Eastern nations from reaching a regional peace deal that would have solved many conflicting issues. Hamas disliked it because it would mean peace. Now lots of people have died so they could keep their war alive. Netanyahu, never brilliant about peace making predictably over-reacted. Whom do you blame more? Spare me.

How about the war in Ukraine – some of us were attacked at a meeting because a woman thought that repeated Vietnam. Wow, was she confused – we fought against the people of Vietnam; we’d be fighting for the people of Ukraine and stopping Russian expansion in its tracks. I want the US to stand with the people of Ukraine and the nations of the EU to keep Russia from threatening other countries in Europe.

I could talk about the 2024 election – almost everything I have to say bears on the 2024 election and there will be plenty more – what’s new?

I could talk about the economy – I’ve got lots of stuff planned on that but it’s complicated and this doesn’t seem like the moment to start a four-part series of commentaries.

I could talk about Trump and his legal trials - Poor little rich kid trying to avoid justice:

  • Trump legal OMG #1 – the US Attorney General Merrick Garland tried to be thorough but the Supremes want to take time to decide if a former president, now out of office, has immunity for illegal behavior – the only limit in the Constitution is on how to remove him from office but his appointees want to extend the protection – that has nothing to do with their claim to read the Constitution according to its explicit text but textualism isn’t enough when they don’t want it to be.
  • Trump legal OMG #2 – the prosecutor, Fani Willis, loved her assistant so the Trump lawyers claimed a conflict of interest. That must mean that lawyers in the same law firm can’t work together because they’d have a conflict of interest. Heaven forbid representation by a husband-and-wife law firm. Conflict of interest has meant lawyers serving conflicting interests or masters. But the Georgia prosecutor and her appointee are on the same side. Trump’s lawyers are certainly creative. So delay until whenever.
  • Trump legal OMG #3 – he appointed the Florida judge Aileen Cannon. She’s on his side but obviously knows he has no case. What’s a judge going to do? So she can’t decide anything. An indefinite delay will spare her the embarrassment of saying anything sensible.
  • Trump legal OMG #4 – Then there’s NY – the candidate of what was once called the Moral Majority is showing off his sexual immorality – whoopee – sleezeballs for president.

· So never mind – I’m going to finish this recording and go have my cataracts removed.

Steve Gottlieb’s latest book is Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and The Breakdown of American Politics. He is the Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Albany Law School, served on the New York Civil Liberties Union board, on the New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran.

The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.

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