In Other News
First, according to Politico,
The Biden administration is holding up shipments of two types of Boeing-made precision bombs to send a political message to Israel, according to a U.S. official and six other people with knowledge of the deliberations.
The U.S. has yet to sign off on a pending sale of Boeing’s Joint Direct Attack Munitions — both the munitions and kits that convert them to smart weapons — and Small Diameter Bombs, according to six industry and congressional sources with knowledge of the discussions.
While the Biden administration has not formally denied the potential sale, it is essentially taking action through inaction — holding off on approvals and other aspects of the weapons transfer process — to send a message to Israel, a U.S. administration official familiar with the process told POLITICO.
Meanwhile,
[A]n Israeli official told NBC News there is deep frustration in the Israeli government over the decision. The official added that tensions had already been running high after Israel felt the U.S. allowed it to be blindsided by Hamas’ announcement earlier this week that it was accepting a version of a cease-fire proposal.
. . . Hamas on Monday said it had accepted the terms of a proposal brokered by Egypt and Qatar, but Israel said it was “far from” meeting its demands. Negotiators have been trying to resolve disagreements over phasing, among other differences over a truce deal that would secure the release of hostages, according to another senior administration official.
. . . Facing mounting criticism at home and abroad, Biden has increasingly clashed with Netanyahu over his military's conduct in Gaza and his insistence on an operation in Rafah that Israel says is necessary to eliminate Hamas but which aid groups fear would be catastrophic for civilians in southern Gaza.
As the news of the weapons hold has emerged in the past couple of days, I keep going back to statments from Alan Dershowitz that I've posted here. For instance, more than a month ago, I quoted his statement on YouTube,
If you stop supplying ammunition and arms to Israel and deny them the right to defend themselves, you have crossed my red line. I hope that doesn't happen. I now have a more open mind than I ever thought I would have about whom I will vote for in this election. The Democratic Party cannot take me, the people who listen to me, the people who vote the way I do, they can't take us for granted, sorry.
It looks like Biden is coming closer and closer to crossing Dershowitz's red line, and the problem is that it's also becoming clearer and clearer that Biden's judgment is in question -- whether a medical diagnosis needs to be invoked or not, it seems to me that there's reason simply to question whether he's under the influence of alcohol or possibly overmedicated. But the people around him, especially Vice President Harris, are no better.
Vice President Kamala Harris dodged reporters on the campaign trail Monday, creating another awkward moment as she left a restaurant in Detroit Michigan.
Harris made a campaign stop at Joe Louis Southern Kitchen to order food, but did not let reporters join her into the establishment.
As she walked briskly out of the restaurant with what looked to be a bag of takeout food, one reporter shouted a question about the details surrounding Gaza terror group Hamas accepting a ceasefire.
Shrimp and grits. You wanted to know? Shrimp and grits,' Harris said quickly without stopping and jumping into a waiting SUV.
Clearly she's being counseled to avoid the cackling laugh with which she would have answered such questions up to a few weeks ago, but "shrimp and grits" isn't any sort of improvement. A normal politician or bureaucrat at the cabinet level would have had the instinct to say something adult-sounding like can't comment on ongoing blah blah blah, but so far, Kamala hasn't even reached that level -- it's just shrimp and grits.
United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon postponed former President Donald Trump’s classified records trial indefinitely for discovery and pre-trial motions.
It would have started on May 20.
This makes it highly unlikely that the case will come to trial before the election. However, instead of the trial beginning on May 20, the Judge has instead scheduled a number of hearings on pretrial motions to begin on that date, extending into June.Several of these hearings will be on defense motions to dismiss the case.Oh damn this is too good.
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) May 7, 2024
Cannon set hearings on key motions including selective prosecution, unlawful of appointment of Special Counsel, and what Jack Smith really hoped to avoid--a hearing on the scope of the prosecution team incl Biden White House.
Almost an extended mini… pic.twitter.com/aTs3m9mYRZ
On top of that, just this morning,
The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday agreed to review a decision by a Fulton County Superior Court judge who declined to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis and her office from the 2020 election case against former President Donald Trump because of a personal relationship Willis had with a prosecutor.
. . . The defendants submitted a formal application to appeal McAfee's decision in March, and the appeals court had 45 days to decide whether to take up the matter. Trump could ask the Georgia Court of Appeals to pause proceedings while it considers the disqualification issue.
The court's decision to grant Trump's appeal will likely delay the start of any trial, though no date has been set for it to begin. The case in Fulton County is one of four Trump is facing as he mounts a third bid for the White House.
It was within the appeals court's authority simply not to hear the case, which is significant in itself, since the court has at least seen merit in the appellants' arguments, but beyond that, the developments in Florida and now Georgia have effectively removed two of the four lawfare cases Trump had faced from any likelihood they can be tried before November.