Time to Make a Hamas Sandwich. With Turkey.
May 10: Squeezing Hamas … Sudan crisis … Housing discrimination … Maryland Senate primary …
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I’ve been given some shit — and, I suspect, lost some readers — for coming down hard on Israel. And on Pres. Joe Biden for not coming down hard on Israel. As I’ve argued in the past, on this issue and others, I think people — pundits, protesters, and politicians — understandably focus their efforts and attention on particular groups or institutions (e.g., Biden or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) not because they’re the worst actors, but due to the perception they’re moveable. No point writing a stern letter to al Qaeda, right?
And I, in my ignorance, have unconsciously assumed that Hamas is not moveable. At least, not moveable any more than Israeli bombardments are already moving Hamas. But I may be wrong about that, as often happens in one’s ignorance.
Because Hamas isn’t just hunkered down in subterranean hidey-holes presumably beneath overpopulated Gaza orphanages. They also have a presence in Qatar, and are frequent guests in Turkey, the Jerusalem Post’s Seth J. Frantzman writes.
Here’s Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, meeting earlier this month in Istanbul with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh:
As Frantzman argued in a Twitter thread Wednesday, there should have been repercussions for the Hamas leaders in Qatar and Turkey after Oct. 7. The U.S. and other western leaders could squeeze both countries to ensure Hamas is held accountable.
I don’t know Frantzman and I’m not especially interested in if he’s a right-winger or has a record of Islamophobia or whatever, because I’m not nominating him for Israeli Writer of the Month, I’m addressing an argument he raised which I’d address the same way no matter who raised it.
I’m inclined to assume the Biden State Department is run by smart, well-intentioned people who have their reasons for what they do and what they don’t do, even if it’s what they should do. But that doesn’t mean they’re immune to cultural myopia. And it doesn’t mean that the big-brain path is the right path.
It was big-brain-realpolitik (you know it’s grown-uppy cuz it’s spelled with a k) thinking that armed Israel with im-precision bombs to drop on Gaza civilians. It was big-brain, realpolitik thinking that propped up Hamas in the first place, funneling them millions of dollars for years. Big brain thinking got us Iraq, Vietnam, etc. It was fucked up then and it’s fucked up now.
I get that there’s a case for permitting Hamas a diplomatic existence if only for the sake of having someone to negotiate hostage releases and non-happening cease-fires with. But on the other hand, bullshit.
If Biden pressured Erdogan and Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to deny Hamas a diplomatic presence and the fun luxuries and perks that come therewith, Hamas could figure out how to use FaceTime just like everyone else.
The best way to establish U.S. credibility in pressuring Israel is to pressure Hamas. The best way to establish that protests against Israel’s conduct are not synonymous with antisemitism is to include demands that the U.S. exert pressure where it can on Hamas, too: first to release the hostages, then to surrender themselves to the International Criminal Court, and then to spend the rest of their lives in prison thinking about what they did.
HRW Calls for Sanctions, Arms Embargo in Conflict That Is Not Polarizing Us
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is calling on the United Nations and African Union to impose an arms embargo on Sudan and sanctions on the leaders responsible for atrocities there.
HRW this week released 221 witness statements describing some of the horrors committed during a campaign of ethnic cleansing conducted by the Arab-led Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary, aka, criminal gang, which is slaughtering non-Arabs. HRW is also recommending that the UN send peacekeepers into Darfur.
Clashes between the Sudanese government and the RSF have caused more than eight million people to flee their homes. Right now, there’s only one city in the Darfur region still controlled by the military, and that’s El Fasher. The problem? The RSF has surrounded it and diplomats reportedly fear a large-scale massacre on top of the many bespoke massacres Sudan has already suffered.
Here in the U.S., the conflict has become a political cold potato, with Republicans and Democrats split over who gives less of a shit. (Just kidding! The recent arms funding bill also includes humanitarian relief for Sudan. I just wanted to try on lazy, uninformed condescension toward politicians. Turns out it’s fun!)
Secretary of State Tony Blinken earlier this year appointed former Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) as special envoy to Sudan. So, uh, yeah, let’s get on that.
Clock Ticking, Pressure Mounts on Housing-Discrimination Measure
This is the quadrennial race we almost never hear about: The presidential administration’s scramble to cement new regulations in place so the next president can’t undo them.
Federal law makes it very easy for new presidents/Congresses to undo regulations put in place in the last 60 legislative days of the previous Congress. So every four years, agencies rush to beat that deadline. Or don’t.
In one galloping failure that I’ve reported on before, an agency under then-Pres. Barack Obama didn’t even start the process of closing a loophole that’s still letting Wall Street drive up commodity prices … until October. Of 2016. Oops.
Now, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) are adding their voices to the growing congressional chorus pushing Pres. Joe Biden not to make the same mistake on housing discrimination.
Biden already heard last week from the congressional Asian Pacific American, Black, and Hispanic caucuses on the same issue.
Specifically, under Obama, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) implemented a new rule that said housing groups that get federal money can’t just promise not to discriminate, they have to take active steps to make sure it doesn’t happen and to make up for decades of past discrimination.
Naturally, then-Pres. Donald Trump undid the rule, forty years after his own housing discrimination led to his very first appearance in the New York Times.
The problem is, Biden hasn’t un-undid the rule yet. A HUD spokesperson told Politico that the redid rule is going through the interagency process (so other agencies can sign off). But, of course, that’s the problem. It’s still going through the process, more than three years after Biden took office. And the clock is ticking.
Maryland Senate Democratic Primary Primarily About Money
Older Newsfuckers may recall the once-frequent lecture from America’s solons that critical coverage and scrutiny of political candidates would chase off all the best potential candidates.
Well, apparently, they were right, because with all those fine candidates gone, all we’re left with is rich people.
According to NBC, wealthy self-funded candidates are self-funding themselves at record levels. And the self-fundiest of them all is Rep. David Trone (D-MD), who’s running in Tuesday’s Maryland primary for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.
His leading rival is Prince George County Executive Angela Alsobrooks. Mail-in and eary voting has already begun, and Trone has outspent Alsobrooks by roughly nine to one, thanks in large part to the $57 million Trone put into his own campaign from his business, Total Wine And More. Trone argues that Alsobrooks takes money from special interests, including Exxon, while he’s beholden to no one And More.
Except, of course, politicians are supposed to be beholden to everyone, whether their interests are special or mundane. And early in the race last year, while Trone already had more money, Alsobrooks had more donors. Trone’s campaign notes that he supports bans on dark money and special-interest money in campaigns. It wasn’t clear whether Trone’s money counts as special-interest money due to Trone’s special interest in Trone.
But here are some of the highlights from Trone’s political career:
In previous races, he’s loaned his campaigns $46 million
In this race, he aired an attack ad against Alsobrooks that said the Senate is “not a place for training wheels.”
He has attacked Alsobrooks as somehow both inexperienced and a career politician, depending on whether the cat is dead when you open the box.
He has referred to Reps. Lucy McBath (D-GA) and Lauren Underwood (D-IL), both Black women, as “great diversity candidates.”
At a March hearing, Trone said to Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, who is Black, “[T]his Republican jigaboo that it’s the tax rate that’s stopping business investment, it’s just completely faulty.”
When Trone apologized, he said that he meant to use the word bugaboo and only afterward learned “the meaning of the word” he had said instead, a derogatory term for Black people.
Trone then said the word he used has a “dark” history.
Alsobrooks reportedly has worked with Vice President Kamala Harris on criminal-justice initiatives and was inspired by Harris to run for her current office. Her record includes a mix of centrist-Democratic “tough on crime” stuff and more progressive efforts at prevention.
Alsobrooks, who would be Maryland’s first Black senator, is backed by most of Trone’s colleague’s in the state’s congressional delegation. Awkward!
Alsobrooks also has the endorsements of:
Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD)
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD)
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD)
And, outside her state, she’s been endorsed by other Democrats serving with Trone in the House: Reps. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Gregory Meeks (D-NY).
Trone has been dismissive of the many endorsements Alsobrooks has from county officials. Some are just “low-level folks,” the owner of Total Wine totally whined.
Boosted by his prolific spending, Trone has enjoyed large leads in the polls. Until now. A new poll yesterday gave Alsobrooks a narrow lead.
Surely if an Ex-Congressman Were Indicted It’d Be on TV…?
In an indictment released yesterday, former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) was indicted on two counts of lying to federal investigators. It’s…complicated.
Fortenberry was already convicted of this crime and sentenced to two years of probation. That conviction was overturned, though, by an appeals court. That’s because the appeals court didn’t like where prosecutors chose bring charges. Although Fortenberry did his lying to the FBI in Nebraska and Washington, DC, they prosecuted him in California.
The reason they prosecuted him in California — other than, presumably, thinking they’d have better odds there — is that that’s where the shit Fortenberry was lying about took place. Specifically, it was a fundraiser at which illegal campaign donations were solicited and funneled.
The way it worked was, rich foreign guy — prohibited by law from donating to U.S. campaigns — basically just fanned out his cash to people at the fundraiser, who could donate legally. Fortenberry picks up $30,000, which might sound like small change, but when you factor in the currency exchange rate is a big heaping amount in Nebraska campaign dollars.
The Justice Department has better things to do than “force a distinguished former public servant to incur massive additional legal costs,” said Chad Kolton, a spokesperson Fortenberry can somehow afford despite massive additional legal costs.
But the FBI really doesn’t like being lied to. And also, Fortenberry didn’t just lie to them, he lied to the public, too. As I revealed after his first time on the indictment-go-round, Fortenberry made multiple misleading statements in publicly proclaiming his innocence.
And those statements — as I revealed at the time when I still had a job where someone other than you paid me to reveal things — served to conceal the nature of the “charity” at the heart of this scheme. Naturally, the FBI apparently isn’t digging into the charity because, as I’ve whined before, the FBI gives a free pass to any charity that smells even remotely like modern American Jesus.
That’s true even if the questionable charity in question is In Defense of Christians, which has multiple ties to The Family, the secretive Christian group that I keep covering because It. Keeps. Doing. Things.
And as I wrote at the time, The Family has a history of doing exactly this shit: In fact, in 2020, then-Pres. Donald Trump pardoned another Family insider, former Rep. Mark Siljander (R-MI), who was literally caught using The Family to Jesus-wash money he got to help out a group suspected of funding terrorism.
Anyway, if you’ve enjoyed my reporting on The Family and Guatemala or Mike Lindell but are sick of hearing me resurrect it, my Fortenberry stuff is full of brand new rabbit holes for all you lovely news weirdos out there!
TCB
NICOLE SANDLER Don’t miss me on the weekly “The Fucking News” segment Monday at 5pm on The Nicole Sandler Show! You can watch or just listen here.
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Have a great weekend. And don’t let Mother’s Day get in your head. I hope it’s a joyous occasion for everyone, but every day is your day and you get to choose what each one means to you. Now go get ‘em, kids…!
It would be just like the U.S. to expect Hamas to surrender to the ICC for punishment, an entity our government says has “no jurisdiction in this situation” and who’s been threatened with military action if they charge and detain anyone the U.S. likes.