Daily Discussion - December 19, 2023

Colorado's Supreme Court rules Donald Trump is ineligible to appear on the ballot.

https://nypost.com

The court determined the 77-year-old former president was ineligible for the White House, citing the US Constitution’s insurrection clause, which led to his removal from the ballot.

The Pentagon is a multitrillion-dollar fraud

https://rt.com

Recently, the Pentagon admitted it couldn’t account for trillions of dollars of US taxpayer money, having failed a massive yearly audit for the sixth year running.

The defense budget of the United States is grotesquely large, its $877 billion dwarfing the $849 billion spent by the next ten nations with the largest defense expenditures. And yet, the Pentagon cannot fully account for the $3.8 trillion in assets and $4 trillion in liabilities it has accrued at US taxpayer expense, ostensibly in defense of the United States and its allies.

In short, the defense budget is the equivalent of &ld…  Read morequo;pay-to-play,” in which the American people pay the US government to produce the results necessary to sustain their overinflated sense of self-worth. We Americans have become so accustomed to being the biggest, baddest bully in the global arena that we assume that simply by pouring money into a system that had produced the desired results for more than seventy years that we could keep the good times rolling. But when you allocate money to a system that has been allowed to become conditioned to operate without accountability, don’t be surprised when the shiny mansion on the hill you thought you were buying turns out to be little more than a house of cards.

Lebanon-Israel border in ‘dangerous’ situation

https://aje.io

Lebanon’s border with Israel is “dangerous” with ongoing exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel, the head of the UN peacekeeping force there warns.

“The situation now, as everybody knows – it is tense. It is difficult, it is dangerous,” said Aroldo Lazaro, the head of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.

“We are trying to continue with our liaison and coordination role … in order to avoid miscalculations, misinterpretations that could be another trigger for escalation,” Lazaro told journalists.

More than 130 people have been killed in hostilities on the Lebanese side. On the Israeli side, four civilians and seven soldiers have been killed.

Conservatives move to keep abortion off the 2024 ballot

https://politico.com

Conservatives are testing new tactics to keep abortion off the ballot following a series of high-profile defeats.

Republicans are also appealing to state courts to keep referendums off the ballot, while GOP lawmakers in states including Missouri and Oklahoma are pushing to raise the threshold for an amendment to pass or to make it to the ballot in the first place.

“I do not want to see abortion put in our constitution,” said Rep. Brad Hudson, a Missouri Republican. “I believe the right to life is a fundamental right that all human beings have and certainly should not be taken…  Read more away because of a vote by a simple majority.”

Senator vows to block sale of US Steel company to Japan

https://thehill.com

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) vowed Monday to work to block the $14.9 billion sale of U.S. Steel Corp. to Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel, which he described as an “outrageous” move.

The deal was announced Monday, prompting the stock prices of U.S. Steel to jump up 25 percent. Fetterman criticized the sale, saying in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the move was “wrong for workers and wrong for Pennsylvania.”

“I’m gonna do everything I can to block it,” Fetterman wrote on X.

“I live across the street from U.S. Steel’s…  Read more Edgar Thompson plant in Braddock,” Fetterman said in a statement. “It’s absolutely outrageous that U.S. Steel has agreed to sell themselves to a foreign company. Steel is always about security — both our national security and the economic security of our steel communities. I am committed to doing anything I can do, using my platform and my position, to block this foreign sale.”

Katie Porter calls for 'bilateral ceasefire' in Israel-Hamas war

https://politico.com

Rep. Katie Porter said the U.S. should push for a “lasting bilateral ceasefire” in the war between Israel and Hamas, a shift from her previous lockstep alignment with the Biden administration on the issue.

The Senate candidate said Monday that the U.S. role should be “to identify and push for conditions where a lasting bilateral ceasefire is possible.”

Those conditions include the release of all hostages seized in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the end of Hamas control of Gaza and security for Israel, she said in a statement.

The word “ceasefire” has becom…  Read moree especially loaded in the conflict, with Palestinians and their supporters using the word to call for an immediate halt to Israel’s military response to the October attack.

Zelensky mobilizes 500K more troops

https://the-sun.com

However, he told Ukrainians never to lose "our resilience", adding: "We are fighting for a future to be chosen by ourselves not the Russian Federation."

In order to do this, the embattled leader said the Ukrainian army has asked for an extra 450,000-500,000 men to be drafted.

"This is a sensitive issue," he said, but stated that he "needed more arguments to support this idea."

When asked if there was any possibility of "defeat", Zelensky confidently responded: "No."

He said: "We are not ready to give up, to let go, from day one to the last day this will be the same... and together we can bring this victory closer."

Judge blocks removal of Confederate statue

https://politico.com

A federal judge on Monday issued a temporary restraining order barring removal of a memorial to Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

A group called Defend Arlington, affiliated with a group called Save Southern Heritage Florida, filed a lawsuit Sunday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, seeking the restraining order. A hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday.

The statue, unveiled in 1914, features a bronze woman, crowned with olive leaves, standing on a 32-foot pedestal, and was designed to represent the American South. According to Arlington, the woman holds a laurel wre…  Read moreath, a plow stock and a pruning hook, with a biblical inscription at her feet that says: “They have beat their swords into plough-shares and their spears into pruning hooks.”

Congress calls on US officials to drop charges against Julian Assange

https://foxnews.com

Rep. Paul Gosar introduced a resolution expressing journalism is protected by the First Amendment and that the U.S. should end its prosecution against Julian Assange.

The bipartisan resolution introduced Wednesday was co-sponsored by Reps. James McGovern, D-Mass.; Thomas Massie, R-Ky.; Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.; Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla.; Eric Burlison, R-Mo.; Jeff Duncan, R-S.C.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Clay Higgins, R-La.

"Whereas regular journalistic activities, including the obtainment and publication of information, are protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States," the resolution reads.