Bows, Arrows, and Guns ✡️🌻✡️🌻✡️

Primarily Yours:  It turns out that the polls were spot on,  yesterday Westchester County Executive George Latimer trounced socialist squad Congressman Jamaal Bowman by 17 points.  Given that their Westchester/Bronx district is heavily Democratic, Latimer will be the district’s next Congressman.  Though the press has been hyper-focused on the huge amount of money spent on the campaign by an AIPAC related PAC, the funding represents only part of the story behind Bowman’s spectacular loss. AIPAC wouldn’t have spent the money if they didn’t think that Bowman’s seat was up for grabs and as noted by Politico, Bowman was unusually vulnerable because he trafficked in 9.11 conspiracies, he offended many by calling the October 7 rapes of Israelis by Hamas that have even been recognized by the UN just Israeli propaganda, he voted against Biden’s key infrastructure and fiscal responsibility legislation, and he got himself sanctioned for pulling a House fire alarm.  In contrast to Latimer, he spent little time developing ties and goodwill within his district, where calling Israel out for committing genocide didn’t go over all that well to say the least, another reminder that all politics is local.  Latimer wasn’t the only centrist who won last night.  On eastern Long Island, former CNN political analyst John Avlon easily beat his opponent Nancy Goroff by 40 points. He’ll now face off against Republican Nick LaLota for a seat that Democrats really want to pick up. In central New York, Democrat John Mannion won his race and will now face off against newbie Republican Congressman Brandon Williams in another race that Democrats believe they can win. In Utah, Republican John Curtis, a moderate by Republican standards, beat the Trump endorsed candidate for the Senate seat being vacated by Mitt Romney and in Colorado, running in a crowded field in a solidly Republican district where her name recognition and Trump endorsement helped, Lauren Boebert easily won her primary meaning that she’ll be back in the House next year. In her old district which she fled over fears that she’d lose against Adam Frisch the Democrat who nearly beat her last time, Republican Jeff Hurd won his primary.  Hurd will face off against Frisch who is running again.       

Courtly Drama:  The Supreme Court will be releasing some more opinions today, tomorrow, and Friday.  They usually save their worst for the end of their term and we’re at the end so with presidential immunity, life-saving abortions, and environmental protections on the table, get ready for some doozies.  Down in Florida Judge Aileen “Loose” Cannon continues to slow walk the purloined documents case into oblivion.  Yesterday she appeared ready to reject Jack Smith’s request for a gag order on Trump to prevent him from putting the lives of FBI agents at risk.  Her position is that since no agents have been killed lately, where’s the proof that Trump’s incendiary claims that the FBI had planned to assassinate him during their Mar a Lago “raid” when they clawed back those boxes of secret documents that he had taken with him from the White House.  As to those boxes, prosecutor Smith’s team released a few more pictures of them, including one that appeared to show nuclear secrets peeking out from under bubble wrap near a supply of Diet Coke bottles in a tacky Mar a Lago latrine. Cannon is considering whether or not to toss the whole case or to just rule against the legitimacy of the Special Counsel appointment.  She’s unlikely to do anything that controversial because she knows it could lead to her being removed from the case, and anyway her stalling tactics are working to Trump’s advantage so does it really matter how she rules as long as it takes her a long time to release her decisions?   In other court news, with the hush money trial over except for the sentencing, New York Judge Juan Merchan lifted the part of Trump’s gag order that prevented him from attacking witnesses and the jury though he still can’t go after individual jurors by name.  Trump will likely be throwing lots of much at Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen but nothing at National Enquirer guy David Pecker who probably is still sitting on some dirt.  Also on the judicial front, the Supreme Court will be weighing in on laws banning treatments for trans minors next term because who doesn’t think that the Justices, some of whom have already shown a complete lack of understanding about biology, should be getting between children, their parents, and their doctors when they’re making such difficult decisions? Notably another one of the Court’s decisions has already had a lethal impact in Texas where there’s been an 8% increase in infant mortality since that state’s abortion ban went into effect.  That’s a lot of deaths when you consider that Texas is second only to California in the number of babies born in the US.  On the subject of deaths and another subject near and dear to many of the SCOTUS Justices, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared firearm violence a public health crisis. So maybe that bump stock ruling was not such a good one?

Fog:  Julian Assange, whose conveniently timed dump of Wikileaks data likely benefitted Trump in 2016 struck a deal with US prosecutors.  He pleaded guilty to conspiring unlawfully to obtain and disseminate classified military documents and in exchange was sentenced to the time he has already served in a British prison and shipped back to Australia.  Assange, who positioned himself as a free speech advocate, is far from the hero that he and some of his ardent fans claim he is.  In addition to the sharing of military secrets he’s also accused of rape and other sex crimes. He’s now Australia’s problem.  Stock the popcorn and maybe some stronger stuff.  Absent any last-minute shenanigans, tomorrow night is debate night in America which means we will soon no longer have to listen to various and sundry pundits provide free debate advice to the candidates but instead will hear endless comments about what each of them did right or wrong. 

#BringThemAllHomeNow