Image 01 Image 03

April 2018

While Democrats may see momentum ahead of the November 2018 midterms, voter registration may have them pull back their excitement just a little bit. The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that the number of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents registered to votes has fallen to 75% from 84% in November.

On Monday, April 16, 2018, the court in the Southern District of New York will continue its hearing on the motion by Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen for return of records seized from his law office and home. In the alternative, Cohen seeks severe restrictions on the government's ability to review the records, even if the government follows its procedures to have a so-called "taint team" do so. For the background and court pleadings, please see the prior post, Trump attorney Michael Cohen goes to Court to get back seized records.

Food & Wine magazine recently released its Restaurants of the Year 2018. The article, by F&W Restaurant Editor Jordanna Rothman, includes Reem's of Oakland, CA. In the introduction to the article, Rothman notes: "At Reem’s in Oakland, California, I was moved by Reem Assil, a Syrian and Palestinian chef who uses food to cultivate understanding for the Arab experience in America." The review of Reem's goes far beyond the menu or food preparation, and focuses heavily on the atmosphere at the restaurant. The review states, in part (emphasis added):

The leftist attempt to take down Fox News by methodically targeting each show's host and the show's advertisers seems to have hit a wrinkle as Laura Ingraham's show is still boasting high ratings.  In addition to her high ratings, she has also had one advertiser return to her show. Ace Hardware, my new favorite hardware retailer, has returned to Ingraham's show.  They say that they made the decision to pull their ads because they didn't have the whole story.

In March, ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in the UK. He became the 15th exiled Russian poisoned in the UK, which set off new investigations into the previous deaths. Russian whistleblower Alexander Perepilichny was one of those who received a lot of attention after his death in 2012. Officials opened an inquest into his death after Skripal was poisoned. People have long thought someone poisoned Perepilichny, but a cardiologist told the inquest it could have been bad seafood. Really?

A prominent LGBT rights attorney, David Buckel, committed suicide by setting himself on fire in New York's Prospect Park.  Buckel, who was involved in the Brandon Teena murder case made famous by the film Boys Don't Cry, left suicide notes and mailed copies to various media outlets. Buckel wrote that his final act of "early death by fossil fuel reflects what we are doing to ourselves” and expressed his hope that his suicide will serve others in some way.

Next time you hear the usual suspects complain about the Israeli military blockade of Gaza, or how Gazans have not been able to rebuild since the 2014 war, keep in mind how many resources the ruling Hamas diverts to missiles, terror, and most of all, attack tunnels. The Hamas tunneling effort diverts huge amounts of concrete, steel, fuel and electricity that could be used for civilian purposes. I discussed in July 2014 how Hamas' tunnel effort demonstrates that it has no interest in building a civil society, One People built tunnels, the other a nation: