I think Donny thinks he’s losing votes to RFK, Jr. Kennedy was supposed to be a Biden spoiler but he’s a pretty conservative guy. He doesn’t appeal to the left. His own, very liberal family, has dismissed him. But he does seem to have an appeal on the right and that worries the trumpster. That explains why Donny used a few minutes at his Dallas rally to brand RFK, Jr a “radical left” guy.

The radical right likes to pretend there’s some, lurking radical left movement out there as the distraction to their radical right agenda. But “radical left” would mean communism. I don’t know any communists. I don’t know anyone seriously pushing for communism. The only people even thinking about communism belong to the radical right. These days, a middle-of-the road, mainstream liberal is viewed as “radical left” by the radical right. We live in a crazy world…

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Bill Maher has lost his objectivity when it comes to Israel, assuming he ever had any to begin with. He had a guest on his last show, Michael Eric Dyson. Dyson is a professor in the College of Arts and Science and in the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University. Dyson challenged Maher’s one-sided view of the war in Gaza. Maher seemed to lose it a bit and actually gave away his lack of balance with one exchange.

After slapping down efforts to turn criticism for the Israeli government into some kind of antisemitism, Dyson explained that the campus protests were mostly about the indiscriminate killing of civilians in Gaza. Maher thought he had Dyson there, “Tell me one war where civilians aren’t killed!” Wow!

So, setting aside the Geneva conventions rules about NOT killing non-combatants in war, and certainly NOT targeting non-combatants in war, Maher’s answer kind of waters down his own complaint about October 7, doesn’t it? Hamas launched rockets into Israel along with a simultaneous attack aimed at civilians. 1,200 Israelis died. That’s the basis for the actions Israel is taking in Gaza.

But couldn’t it be dismissed using Maher’s own “logic?” Oh, Hamas attacked civilians on October 7? Oh, well, tell me one war where civilians aren’t killed. I think old Bill would be apoplectic if someone said that to him about the Israeli civilians. I suspect he would answer that there was no war when Hamas attacked. I’m not sure I agree with that, either.

To my mind, that region has been at war since at least 1947. Sometimes the war is hot. Sometimes the war is cold. But the war continues. I wish they would ALL stop killing each other but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen any time soon, so my next best choice is that the US should NOT be an active participant in the killing. At the very least, we should stop supplying weapons…

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I’ve seen articles from both sides of the aisle in which the author tries to predict the outcome of Donny’s embezzlement trial, called the ‘Hush money to porn star’ trial because that’s more sensationalistic.

The right thinks the prosecution messed up by not bringing in Allen Weiselberg, Donny’s long-time CEO, to testify. They don’t think Michael Cohen carried the day and the prosecution needs just a little bit more if they want the conviction.

The left thinks Cohen comported himself well and landed enough blows to deal serious damage to Donny. The left thinks that because the prosecution basically proved everything Cohen had to say before Cohen even said it, Cohen’s testimony tied up the loose ends nicely.

The defense cross-examination of Cohen continues but that’s mostly because the defense wanted the jury to have the cross-examination they had done to that point to stay in the jury’s minds over the weekend. The defense is focused on the many terrible things Cohen did to people while he was serving as Donny’s “fixer.” I think the goal is to show Cohen’s unsavory past. But the jury already knows all about it because the prosecution told them.

I think pointing out immoral things Cohen did for trump is a risky move. Yes, Cohen did those things and that’s bad. But…the “for trump” part kind of shines a negative light on Donny, too. The cross-examination is expected to end soon. Word is, the trump team is not planning to put on a defense, but that’s not set in stone, yet. Donny keeps pretending he might testify. I doubt he will. I’m not sure how ranting about losing the 2020 election is going to help his case in any way.

The defense doesn’t have to present a case. The burden of proof is on the prosecution and if the defense feels the prosecution hasn’t made their case, THAT’S what they argue – and they don’t even need a defense. That’s very convenient, considering Donny HAS no defense in the matter.

Judge Merchan has said it has “become apparent that we’re not going to be able to sum up tomorrow.” He has said closing arguments will be next Tuesday, the 28th of May. Then we wait on the jury. How LONG we wait on the jury is strictly up to them…