News And Drawings

I seem to have a need today to recount what I’m reading. I hope I get it right, and I hope it doesn’t put you to sleep. If the news this week puts you to sleep, then I’d say you are seriously sleep deprived.

The continued efforts of the Republican Party to elect a Speaker of the House are stalled, for which I am glad. I’m not happy that they are stalled, because that’s not good for the country. We need a functioning House (I know, tall order right now). It’s that I believe Jim Jordan—who put himself forward twice for the job and could not get enough votes—would be an unmitigated disaster, not to mention bad for our democracy. He has been called a legislative terrorist, and is a member of the far right, radical contingient of the House. An unapologetic Trump supporter and election denier. He and his followers have been threatening House members to vote for him, some of them were death threats. Luckily, today Jordan has withdrawn his name, although it seems he may return when they vote again in January. Does Jordan really think, with all his ill-will and lack of legislative success, that with time he will be able to convince enought GOP Representatives to vote for him? I doubt it. I am hopeful this is a sign that enough members of the GOP have come to their senses to say NO. No more Trump sympathizers, no more insurrectionists who want to take down our democracy.

Biden’s heartfelt speech in Israel yesterday gives me hope, hope that he can stop Bibi from invading and further bombing, hope that aid will reach the Palestinians in Gaza, soon. Beyond that, I don’t know what to think. I just wait and hope that a solution for the region can be found.

Below, I share a drawing that my friend and colleague Michel Kichka sent me this morning. He is an Israeli living in Jerusalem. When I first visited Israel, Michel gave me a tour of the region, and we ate in a wonderful restaurant in a small Arab town outside of the city.

Poland gave us some potential good news this week. It looks like centrists and progressive parties will form a new government, ousting the party that has been in power. I don’t fully understand it, but what I do grasp is that Poland had been drifting towards a less-tolerant, authoritarian-leaning rule. That may be changing.

Trump attorney from 2020, Sidney Powell, pleaded guilty and will cooperate with Georgia prosecutors in the trial against Trump. I assume she will provide evidence from meetings she attended during the leadup to the January 6th insurrection. This is good news and may shine strong light on what went down, enough to more clearly implicate Trump.

Happy Thursday, thanks for being here.