Author: A.T.

And at no cost to us, no less.

Fareed Zakaria lays it out this way:

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Is there anything that can be done to address . . . stalemate on the frontlines and waning support in Western capitals?

Actually, there is a policy that could help on both fronts:

Set up an international and legal process by which Russia’s $300 billion-plus of frozen reserves could be used to aid Ukraine’s reconstruction, which the World Bank estimates would cost more than $400 billion over the next ten years.

In one swoop, that would signal to Putin that Ukraine will not face a funding crisis and that even were Trump to be elected, these funds, administered through some international body, say in Switzerland or Belgium, would continue to flow to Kyiv.

There are challenges to this policy. Russia’s reserves lie in various countries, but European allies hold most of them, and their governments worry that they don’t have the legal authority to divert them. Laurence Tribe, the distinguished legal scholar, and some of his colleagues have written up a definitive case as to why it would be legal and appropriate to go down the path of using Russian reserves for Ukraine’s reconstruction. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, former World Bank head Robert Zoellick, and former 9/11 Commission executive director Philip Zelikow have argued persuasively that it is good policy.

Tribe’s basic argument is that Russia has engaged in a massive and systemic violation of international law and norms and that it is appropriate, indeed necessary, for there to be some price to pay for this. To reject this logic in favor of one that protects Russia’s “property rights” is perverse since Russia has engaged in brutal, sustained violations of Ukraine’s property rights and has taken the lives of thousands of its civilians as well.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine is a core violation of any conception of a rules-based international order. It strikes me as right and wise to force it to pay a heavy price. But how that policy is pursued matters. In the past, the United States has tried to enforce its own conception of international rules unilaterally, often generating huge opposition to it. The approach we should take this time is the opposite.

This policy should be rooted in international consensus, law and norms. Legal opinions like Tribe’s should be presented. An international legal organization and process of adjudicating claims should be established and the funds handled through it. Russia’s assets and Ukraine’s reconstruction should serve as a building block for international law and norms that help shore up the rules-based order. As Summers, Zoellick, and Zelikow note, if this case sets the precedent that a country that engages in naked aggression might find that its dollar reserves are in jeopardy, that is not a bad precedent for a world in disarray.

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Indeed, it “would strengthen, not undermine, international law.”

An idea worth spreading far and wide — and implementing ASAP.

That one day in the summer of 1963 — just 8 weeks hence — 100,000 people would march on Washington demanding civil rights for African Americans.

As it turned out — in the face of tremendous opposition from powerful men both white and black — a quarter million turned out.

The man who had that dream was not Martin Luther King, Jr., whose speech that day will rightly and forever be remembered, but Bayard Rustin, whose story this movie so compellingly tells.

“His was a rich, fascinatingly complex history, filled with big personalities and tremendous stakes . . . From the second that Rustin sweeps into the movie, throwing open his arms to King — and, by extension, welcoming the future they will help make — the actor seizes hold of you.  — The New York Times

“Riveting.” — The Wall Street Journal

Do you have Netflix?  If not, Rustin alone is worth signing up for $6.99/month.

Or watch it at a theater near you.

Two on how to tell the good guys from the bad guys.  

“You are never going to find a right way to do the wrong thing.”

And two more . . .

“The only question,” as House Speaker Mike Johnson sees it.

. . . followed by three of commentary.

(The last few seconds, on why church attendance is down: “Young people don’t want to go to a church where preachers worship Donald Trump instead of Jesus Christ!”)

PRKR has more than doubled since November 7 but the upside still strikes me as greater than the downside.  I’m holding mine . . . with money I can truly afford to lose, because, obviously, I may.

But first:

> How the next Republican president could stop most abortions without Congress.

> Mick Mulvaney Changes His Mind.  Trump’s ex-C.O.S. is a supporter no more.

> Journalism professor’s six-word mantra is a blueprint for how news outlets should cover the 2024 race:  “NOT THE ODDS, BUT THE STAKES.”

It’s quick read that segues nicely into this, by the retired managing editor of Stars and Stripes, no less:

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The Death of the New York Times

Ever since Trump and his Republicans attack on our country and subsequent coup attempt in 2021, I have been calling for The Times and ALL major media companies to establish Democracy Desks in their newsrooms.

. . . If the Republicans are successful in taking down our Democracy and installing an authoritarian regime in Washington, one of the very first things to go will be our freedom of the press, and THEN where will The Times be?

It is ludicrous that their readers aren’t being educated everyday about what the Republicans have in mind and how devastating it would be to the citizens of this country if they ever got back into the White House.

For one thing, it’s fair to posit there would never be another election again — at least not one that would be remotely fair.

Ever since the disaster in November, 2016, just enough Americans have risen up and gotten active stamping out the flames of fascism Republicans have so frantically been fanning.

But we could use a little help.

. . . That would start with knocking it the hell off with these stupid polls that predict nothing, and start dealing with our terrifying realties.

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Which terrifying realities segue (at last) into my question:

Given the Republican front-runner’s admiration for dictators . . . and his increasing use of language like “vermin” and “communists” to describe anyone who opposes him . . . language that comes straight from the book he for years kept by his bed . . .

. . . which side would he have been rooting for in the early days of World War II, before Pearl Harbor?  The Germans?  Or the French, Poles, Czechs, Russians, and British?

It may sound like a stupid question now (except, perhaps, to some of the “very fine people” who marched with torches in Charlottesville); but back then, an awful lot of Americans were rooting for the German dictator. 

Are we sure, had he been alive in 1939, Trump’s sympathies would not have aligned with these patriotic Americans gathered in Madison Square Garden? 

And do we think that today, in 2023, he hopes Putin is defeated in Ukraine? 

That autocracies around the world give way to democracies? 

I have come to doubt it.

→ Hundreds of thousands of innocent Ukrainians and conscripted Russians have died and millions more had their lives wrecked — for what?  The dreams of a Russian dictator who has such a close bond to Trump that when they meet, Trump sometimes doesn’t allow Americans in the room.

→ The tragedy in Israel and Gaza is top of every mind, heartbreaking in every respect — though not to the religious leadership of Iran and their increasingly close ally the Russian dictator, who are presumably pleased to watch it unfold.

→ Trump’s own push toward dictatorship — now calling those who oppose him “vermin,” straight out of the (only?) book he kept by his bedside while married to Ivana — is at once unbelievable, horrifying, and real.

So can we take a quick break from all that?

Here:

Bill Gates offers reasons to be hopeful on climate.

Western ingenuity may just save the day, or at least mitigate the damage.  It’s exciting to read about.

First off, just what the doctor ordered:

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A way for [Democratic] donors to “maximize their impact” by funneling their money to races that truly matter [rather than] “rage-donate into the abyss.”

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Here‘s the story.  And here’s the app.

Second, two minutes of pointed questions whose strident tone, given her frustration with those who see Israel as the bad actor in this tragedy, is perhaps understandable.

Finally, Hillary on Gaza — well worth watching for a reasoned perspective rooted in decades’ experience.

One of you sent me this open letter from pro-Palestinian Jewish students at Brown.

It “comes from a good place,” for sure but is dead wrong, I think, in calling what Israel is doing “genocide.”

To me, genocide is when you’re trying to kill people — indeed, an entire people — simply because of their ethnicity or religion.

Israel has never wanted to do that and doesn’t want to do it now . . . any more than we wanted to do it when we killed God knows how many German and Japanese civilians in World War II.

There’s so much to criticize about the current Israeli regime; and about the expansion of settlements in years past.

But genocide?  It’s not remotely that, I think.

I loathe Netanyahu.  Even so, I think his appearance on yesterday’s Meet The Press is very much worth watching.

I wish every college student in America would read Noa Tishby’s book — which is deeply sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians, as we all should be — Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth.

And speaking of genocide, this is worth your time as well:  The Truth of Hamas Is in Its Charter.

Biden is spot on in wanting Israel to provide more humanitarian aid (maybe like this?) and do more to minimize civilian casualties.

But I think Hamas has to be defeated, as ISIS largely has been.

The Speaker of the House is no fan of — in his words — “the so-called separation of church and state.”

Indeed, reports Rolling Stone, he “has ties to the far-right New Apostolic Reformation — which is hell-bent on turning America into a religious state.”

Is he the right man to be second in line to the presidency?

The Key to Mike Johnson’s Christian Extremism Hangs Outside His Office will help you decide.

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On December 29, 2020 — eight days before the insurrection — Sheets and his team of prophets were in Washington, D.C., staying at the Willard Hotel, the site of the various war rooms overseen by Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon. On that day, Sheets, along with 14 other apostles and prophets, had a multi-hour meeting inside the White House with Trump administration officials. Who exactly among White House Staff attended this meeting is unclear (and the Trump administration has made the White House Visitor Logs secret and invulnerable to FOIA requests until 2026). But members of Sheets’ team posted photos of themselves (with White House visitor passes) both outside and inside the building.

The Appeal to Heaven flag was the banner of this mobilization, which brings us back to Mike Johnson and the flag outside his office. What does it signal that the speaker of the House of Representatives is purposely flying this symbol of Christian warfare?

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And then there’s his wife and podcast partner Kelly, whose Onward Christian Counseling Services, the Huffington Post reports  . . .

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. . . is grounded in the belief that sex is offensive to God if it is not between a man and a woman married to each other. It puts being gay, bisexual or transgender in the same category as someone who has sex with animals.

“We believe and the Bible teaches that any form of sexual immorality, such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, pornography or any attempt to change one’s sex, or disagreement with one’s biological sex, is sinful and offensive to God,” says the eight-page business document. . . .

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TAX-SELLING BARGAINS?

Sometimes this works.  You look for stocks so beaten down as the end of the year approaches that folks may be selling to lock in their loss “no matter the price.”  That can lead to irrationally low prices — an opportunity for us.

Or not.  Sometimes, those stocks just keep falling until all that’s left is a bad memory.  Over the years, I’ve enjoyed, and suffered, both.  (I had one that eventually jumped 40 fold, which made up for a lot of losers.)

Two I bought more of Friday are HYMC, at 18 cents, down from its $16 July, 2020 high; and OPRT, at $2.50, down from $27.  The first has cash and gold that might (might!) prove to be worth a lot more than its debt; the second has been the victim of bad management that might (might!) get replaced with good management.

Only, needless to say, with money you can truly afford to lose.

Psychology meets kitchen table economics.

A sobering read.

We on team Biden need to show better that we feel voters’ pain.  We put a lot of emphasis on our great jobs record — lowest unemployment in 50 years — but only 3.9% of the country feels the pain of unemployment.  Nearly 100% feel the pain of higher prices.  We stress that inflation is coming down, which it is and that’s great — but prices aren’t coming down, and voters need to feel we get how rough that is.

So yes, we’re right on climate and guns and women’s rights and democracy and Ukraine and the price of insulin (remember: Republicans blocked lowering it for diabetics under 65) — and on the need to fund the IRS and raise taxes on billionheirs and raise the $7.25 minimum wage.  And yes, we’re beginning to revitalize our crumbling infrastructure and get highspeed broadband to millions of rural voters.  All that and more.

(And yes, their party accepts a twice-impeached, four-times-indicted, $25-million-fined, adjudicated rapist who bankrupted multiple companies as their standard bearer.  A “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot,” in the words of Lindsey Graham.  A dangerous sociopath, in the words of both his ghost writer and his clinical psychologist niece.)

Yet — clearly — we all need to do  more than just watch events unfold if we’re going to save democracy.

Volunteer opportunities to consider:

Field Team Six

Vote Forward

Swing Left

Indivisible

Rock The Vote

The League of Women Voters

And a link to click if you can afford to chip in.

(I know: I’m incorrigible.  Unlike Joe Biden, who in the words of Lindsey Graham again, is “as good a man as God ever created.”)

Have a great weekend.

But first —

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“I’m calling from Israeli intelligence. We have the order to bomb. You have two hours.”
An extraordinary warning call to a Palestinian dentist starts the panicked evacuation of a Gazan neighbourhood.

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As gripping a story as they come.

And now —

Shai Davidai:

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I am an assistant professor at Columbia Business School.  I am a father, a husband, an uncle, and a son.  I am a forty-year-old man, and last week I found myself crying in front of a group of complete strangers.

. . . I stood on Columbia University’s main campus and pleaded with my employer to protect me and help me protect the thousands of Jewish students whose lives and safety have been entrusted to us by worried parents all across the United States.

I pleaded with my employer to help me protect the lives of thousands of Jewish students from pro-terror student organizations who openly laud Hamas—an internationally recognized terrorist organization.

I pleaded with the presidents of colleges and universities all around the country to take a clear moral stance against rape and torture and the kidnapping of helpless civilians.

I pleaded with colleges and universities to live up to their stated mission of humanism and enlightenment.  I pleaded—and still plead—because the silence of college presidents all across the country is deafening.

I am not tenured.  I could be fired for this.

But if my research into behavioral psychology has taught me anything, it’s that looking back on my life, I am more likely to regret not taking a stance.

I can’t afford not to take a stance.

Not when students’ lives are on the line.

Not when my children’s lives are on the line.

My children may be American citizens, but, through their mother and me, they are Israelis, too.

And because they are Israelis, because they are Jews, I fear for them.

I fear for my two-year-old daughter, who’s funny and brave and thinks everyone in the world is her friend.

I fear for my seven-year-old son, who still asks me to sit next to his bed for a few minutes every night when I tuck him into bed.

I fear, because there are student organizations on my own campus who see my beautiful children as legitimate targets.

I fear, because the president of my university—my very own employer—refuses to speak up against such senseless violence and hatred.

Let’s call this what it is.

This is cowardice.

I see my son’s and daughter’s faces in the faces of the hundreds of innocent children and teenagers who were murdered, tortured, raped, brutalized, and kidnapped on October 7th.

For Hamas and its supporters, those children are acceptable targets.

And right now, in colleges and universities all across the country, there are hundreds of pro-terror student organizations that are celebrating these vile crimes against humanity.

This is what the President of Columbia is refusing to condemn.  This is what the President of Harvard is refusing to condemn.  This is what the Presidents of Yale and NYU and UC Berkeley and many other “enlightened” institutions throughout the country are refusing to condemn.

They would never allow student organizations to celebrate the senseless loss of life in the horrific attacks of 9/11.

They would never allow student organizations to celebrate the horrific murder of George Floyd.

They would never allow student organizations to celebrate the mass shooting of more than 100 LGBTQ+ people in an Orlando nightclub on June 12, 2016.

And yet, when it comes to Jewish lives—when it comes to my own children’s lives—they could care less.

Let me be as clear as I can:

This is not about being pro-Israel or pro-Palestine.

This is about making a clear distinction between legitimate resistance and unspeakable crimes against humanity.

This is about human decency.

You can support the rights of millions of innocent Palestinians and still take a moral stance against heinous violence and brutality.

I know, because I do.

You can spend your adult life advocating for the establishment of a prosperous Palestinian state next to a prosperous Israeli state and still be willing to draw the line at rape.

I know, because I do.

You can be a lefty and a softy who can’t fathom why we can’t just end this senseless cycle of violence yet still shout at the top of your lungs that shooting babies in their cribs and burning their corpses is just plain evil.

Plain plain evil.

I know, because I am and I do.

You can be pro-Israel and pro-Palestine and anti-terror.

I know, because I am.

Parents from all across the country have reached out to me in the past week asking if their kids are safe.

Thousands of worried parents who have been losing sleep as they see their children’s campuses rampaged by extremist organizations that openly celebrate and encourage terrorism.

Thousands of moms and dads who only want to make sure that their children are protected from harm.

To all those parents, I reply:

No.  Your children are not safe.

Because, as a professor, I can tell you that universities across the country would rather appease pro-terror campus coalitions than care for their Jewish students.

Because, as a professor, I can tell you that the presidents of universities all across the U.S. are more concerned with getting bad press than with getting your children home safely.

What sort of education is your child getting at a place that refuses to condemn terror-sympathizing organizations and allows them to roam freely on campus?

What sort of education is your child getting at a place that gives a platform and a mix to organizations that celebrate the execution of infants in their cribs?

The raping of teenagers?

The kidnapping of toddlers?

The moral and intellectual bankruptcy of universities throughout the country is now undeniable.

But I know that if we all work together we can make a real difference.

This is not about me.  I’m not some leader.  I’m just a dad.

I’m just a dad who is scared and who is willing to put EVERYTHING on the line to protect his children.

Many of you have reached out in the past days, and your messages have brought me immense light into a very dark time.

I am so extremely inspired by the stories people have been sending me.

People are telling me about the committees they’ve formed and the PTAs they’ve joined and the politicians they’ve called and TV and radio shows to which they have called-in, demanding that their voice be heard. . . .

If you want to get in touch and let me know about all that you have, are, and will be doing at your job, school, alma mater, neighborhood, and so forth, please email me.

[And] please help me spread this message. . . .

I know it’s weird, but can I please ask you to email this to all your friends and post it on all your social media profiles?

I really just want the message to get through.

Thank you!☺️

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As I suggested last week, Israeli and Palestinian civilians share a common enemy: Hamas.

May every possible civilian life be spared, and all possible humanitarian aid be provided, as that enemy is defeated.